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AGHUWAR  DAYAL 


SOMETIME  WIEST  OF  VISHNU 


ADELAIDE  GAIL  FROST 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL 

Sometime  Priest  of  Vishnu 


The  true  story  of  his  life  as  related  by  himself  to 

ADELAIDE  GAIL  FROST 

Missionary  of  the  Christian  Woman's  Board  of   Missions 


A  CENTENNIAL  OFFERING  FROM 
MAHOBA,  INDIA 


Dedicated  to  all  who  have  share:!  in  effort  for  the 
redemption  of  idol-cursed  India 


Copyright,  1910,  by  the 
Christian  Woman's  Board  of  Missions. 


Om/      /Von;    meditate    upon    the    excellent    glory    of    the    divine 

Dreather-of-Life, 
Shine  thy  light  into  our  darkness! 

— The  Gaitri  Mantra  to  the  Sun. 
In  Him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men.      And 
the  light  shineth  in  darkness ;  and  the  darkness  comprehendeth  it 
not. — A  figure  referring  to  Jesus  spoken  of  by  John  the  Disciple. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THIS  book  is  the  product  of  "between-whiles"  of  work, 
during  extra  and  late  hours,  faithfully  rendered  by  a 
devoted  servant  of  the  King. 

The  subject  of  the  sketch  is  an  interesting  character  and 
wins  his  way  into  the  heart.  With  careful  training  he  should 
be  a  mighty  power  for  good  in  the  warfare  against  principalities 
and  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  darkness  of  this  world  and 
spiritual  wickedness  in  high  places. 

He  is  an  example  of  what  the  power  of  Christianity  may  ac- 
complish. 

Formerly  a  high  caste  man,  a  Brahmin  of  the  Brahmins, 
dedicated  the  eighth  year,  concerning  zeal  a  priest  in  the  chief 
temple  of  Mahoba,  one  who  all  his  life  has  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
of  superstition,  strict  caste  observance  and  idolatry,  but  now  a 
humble  follower  of  the  lowly  Jesus. 

It  is  an  increasing  source  of  wonder  to  us  how  he  has 
completely  broken  away  from  all  that  he  held  to  be  life  and 
religion  and  God,  but  which  he  now  counts  as  refuse  and  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus,  his  Lord. 

We  ask  of  those  who  read  this  life-story  that  they  lift  up 
their  hearts  in  prayer  for  Raghuwar  Dayal,  and  for  those  who 
have  been  entrusted  with  the  training  of  this  new  disciple  of 
our  Lord. 

W.  E.  Gordon. 

Christian  Mission,  Mahoba,  U.  P.,  Julv  8,   1909. 


RULES  FOR  PRONUNCIATION 

OF 
Hindi  and  Sanskrit  Words  in  this  Book. 

a  as  u  in  us. 

d  as  a  in  father. 

i  as  i  in  it. 

i  as  e  in  feet. 

u  as  u  in  pull. 

(i   as   oo   in   moon. 

e  as  a  in  ate. 

ai  as  i  in  ice. 

o  as  o  in  old. 

au  as  ok  in  out. 

s  as  s  in  such. 

ch  as  c/i  in  church. 

th  as  /  only  aspirated. 


AUTHORS'  STATEMENT. 


THIS  is  an  unusual  story  to  hear,  sitting  at  an  ordinary  din- 
ing table.  To  be  sure  all  dishes  have  been  removed  to 
transform  its  surface  into  that  of  the  usual  writing  desk, 
but  from  the  pictures  on  the  wall  to  the  doily  in  the 
center  of  the  table,  these  are  but  commonplace  surroundings, 
and  the  story  we  are  to  hear  in  their  midst  is  the  strange  story  of 
a  divinity  student  of  the  East,  the  far  tropical  East.  Have  you 
patience  to  listen  with  me,  O  friends?  Shall  we  try,  together, 
to  understand  what  Hinduism  is?  The  way  is  a  tangled  one 
through  a  jungle  of  peculiar  and  ancient  beliefs.  The  student 
before  us  would  lead  us,  would  make  us  understand  the  traditions, 
the  attitude,  the  need  of  his  people.  Will  you  try  to  know  what 
Arya's  children  believe,  and  through  some  tiring  explanations  of 
a  Hindu  scholar  catch  his  view-point,  understand  his  need,  know 
the  wonder  that  has  come  into  his  life?  Your  opportunity  is  a 
rare  one,  for  through  the  years  I,  at  least,  have  known  of  no 
voice  from  the  dark  interior  of  a  great  Hindu  temple  penetrating 
the  thick  stone  walls  and  coming  to  western  ears ! 

In  the  face  across  the  table  from  me  is  intensity  and  keen 
tl  ought.  A  few  weeks  ago  he  was  as  effectually  prevented  from 
sitting  in  this  easy,  natural  way  at  the  table  of  a  Mission  House 
as  though  he  had  been  bound  hand  and  foot  with  heavy  chains! 

As  I  take  up  my  pen  and  look  expectantly  toward  the  face 
across  the  table,  I  know  I  must  ask  those  who  are  to  read  the 
recital  to  walk  in  a  winding  way;  that  I  must  attempt  to  illumi- 
nate what  is  so  difficult  for  western  minds  to  understand,  but  if 
this  man,  Raghuwar  Dayal,  cannot  make  you  and  me  under- 
stand, then  we  can  never  know. 

In  the  preliminary  conversation  with  the  narrator  of  this  story 
I  learn  of  that  dim  past  in  whose  shadows  strange  shapes  waver, 
who  are  believed  by  millions  of  India's  men  and  women  to  be 
authentic  historical  characters,  and  so  I  arrange  for  you  in  begin- 
ning tie  founding  of  a  famous  Hindu  family. 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL 


Raghuwar  Dayal,  Sometime  Priest  of  Vishnu 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL. 


IN  the  village  of  Nand,  in  a  Hindu  kingdom  in  the  heart  of 
India,  lives  a  Brahmin  family  of  the  Kashyap  muni  tribe  who 
trace  their  ancestry  back  five  thousand  years,  so  far  back 
into  history  that  it  becomes  more  poetry  than  truth,  and  all  the 
narrative  of  events  is  in  slofys  of  varying  names  and  measures. 
Kashyap  Muni  lived  in  the  days  of  King  Parikshat,  a  grandson 
of  one  of  the  five  Pandavas  who  played  so  important  a  part  in 
India's  mythological  history  as  related  in  the  Mahdbhdrat. 

In  those  days  an  impure  mlecha  (foreigner)  was  killing  the 
cattle  so  sacred  to  the  Hindus,  and,  therefore,  greatly  offend- 
ing them.  When  called  before  the  King  this  barbarian  said: 
"Your  reign  and  the  age  of  Dwapar  is  over,  and  I,  Kaliyug, 
the  Age  of  Blackness,  have  come  to  reign  four  hundred  and 
thirty-two  thousand  years." 

The  King  replied:  "I  shall  depart,  but  thou  shalt  remain." 
Kaliyug  then  asked:  "Where  shall  I  abide?"  Parikshat  an- 
swered: "You  shall  dwell  in  all  gold,  you,  the  Age  of  Black- 
ness, shall  find  an  abiding  place  in  shining  gold."  The  great 
King  had  forgotten  that  on  his  head  was  a  crown  of  this  same 
shining  gold  and  straightway  Kaliyug  took  his  place  there 
which  caused  the  once  good  king  to  change  into  a  different  mind 
and  heart.  Before  him,  by  the  roadside,  sat  an  holy  man  with 
closed  eyes  meditating.  Near  him  was  a  dead  snake,  which 
the  King  picked  up  on  the  point  of  his  bow  and  flung  around  the 
neck  of  the  saint.      When  the  chela   (disciple)   of  the  Muni  saw 


10  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

how  his  master  had  been  dishonored,  he  took  the  snake  from 
around  his  neck  and  threw  it  to  the  ground,  sprinkling  it  in  the 
act  with  water  from  his  sacred  drinking  cup,  which  brought 
the  snake  to  life.  And  when  the  chela  saw  this  he  said:  "Seven 
days  from  this  day,  this  snake  shall  bite  and  kill  Rajah  Parik- 
shat."  Upon  this  the  holy  man  opened  his  eyes  and  said: 
"You  have  not  done  right,  this  Rajah  has  spread  goodness  and 
truth  and  peace  over  the  whole  earth,  and  what  matters  this  he 
has  done  to  me?"  But  the  curse  remained,  and  when  it  came 
to  the  King's  ears  he  gave  over  his  royal  cushion  to  his  son  and 
went  to  spend  his  last  days  on  the  banks  of  the  sacred  Ganges. 
As  he  sat  there,  awaiting  his  death,  came  Sukhdev,  the  god  of  joy, 
from  whose  mouth  sweet  words  grew  a  hundred  fold  sweeter, 
and  through  all  the  seven  days  he  composed  and  recited  the  famous 
poem  of  eighteen  thousand  verses,  called  by  the  Hindus  "Sapta 
Bhagwata"  (the  story  of  Seven  Days).  The  pandits  say  of 
all  the  poetic  recitals  of  their  ancient  literature  this  is  the  most 
famous.  It  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  shining,  beautiful  child, 
Sukhdev,  and  as  he  sat  and  listened  the  King  was  filled  with  a 
wondrous  joy  that  took  from  him  all  fear  of  death. 

Near  the  Ganges  in  a  forest  dwelt  the  great  Muni  Kashyap,  a 
physician  in  the  glance  of  whose  eyes  dwelt  immortality.  When 
the  doom  of  King  Parikshat  came  through  the  whispering  leaves 
of  the  forest  to  him,  he  decided  to  be  present  on  the  seventh  day, 
that  when  the  deadly  snake  bit  the  King  he  might  restore  the 
monarch's  life  by  a  glance  of  his  eyes  in  which  amrit  (immor- 
tality) lived.  As  he  journeyed  toward  the  Ganges,  the  fatal 
mystic  serpent  stood  in  his  path  in  the  form  of  a  Brahmin,  and 
said:  "The  errand  upon  which  you  go  is  fruitless;  if  you  wish 
money,  here  it  is,  take  it  and  return."  The  Muni  replied:  "I 
will  go  on,  I  want  not  your  rupees;  I  will  save  the  life  of  King 
Parikshat,  doomed  to  be  bitten  by  the  deadly  serpent."  "Ah," 
sneered  the  disguised  one,  "by  my  bite  I  will  dry  up  yonder  green 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU. 


I  1 


mango  tree  and  if  you  can  restore  it  to  its  green  I  shall  know  you 
can  save  the  life  of  the  King."  By  the  bite  of  the  serpent  the  tree 
withered,  and  by  the  glance  of  the  Muni  it  came  back  to  its 
fresh  greenness.  "Thou  hast  restored  the  tree,  but  if  I  bite  thee, 
canst  thou  bring  thyself  back  to  live  among  men?"  With  that 
the  Brahmin  disappeared  and  there  was  but  vacancy  before 
Kashyap  Muni,  so  he  arose  and  went  on  his  mission.  As  he 
journeyed,  he  saw  in  the  road  a  curious  crooked  stick  which  at- 
tracted his  attention.  He  picked  it  up  and  slung  it  across  his 
shoulder,  and,  like  a  flash,  the  crooked  stick  was  the  deadly 
crooked  serpent  which  at  once  inserted  its  poisonous  fangs  into 
Kashyap  Muni's  back  beyond  the  reach  of  his  eyes  of  life-giving 
power.      He  knew  he  must  die,  so  he  called  hie  disciples  and  told 


Ancient  Brahminical  Temple,  Gwalior 


1 2  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

them  if  they  would  cut  his  body  up  into  pieces  and  cook  and  eat, 
every  piece  would  make  from  one  who  ate  it  another  Kashyap 
Muni  with  eyes  restoring  life  wherever  their  glances  fell,  but  no  one 
would  commit  the  sacrilege  of  eating  human  flesh.  So  the  great 
Muni  died  with  his  mission  to  the  King  unfulfilled,  and  on  the 
fatal  seventh  day  he,  too,  bitten  by  the  serpent,  left  his  garment 
of  flesh. 

Kashyap  Muni  left  behind  him  many  sons,  and  one  of 
these  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Brahmin  family  of  Nandpura, 
who,  for  four  generations,  had  lived  in  that  spot  and  read  and 
taught  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus  to  the  people.  One  of  the 
sons  of  that  family  sits  before  me,  a  small  man  with  a  keen, 
eager  face,  and  carefully  he  explains  the  story  of  his  life;  its 
language,  its  customs,  its  religion  is  as  far  from  those  of  my  child- 
hood "as  the  east  is  from  the  west" ! 

He  leans  forward  and  this  is  what  he  says:  "I,  Raghuwar 
Dayal,  am  the  youngest  of  four  sons.  When  a  child  is  born  into 
a  Brahmin  family,  from  that  very  hour  he  is  surrounded 
by  religious  rites  and  ceremonies.  First  of  all  comes  the 
astrologer  and  makes  out  his  map  of  destiny.  To  this  day 
in  my  father's  house  is  my  janma-kundali  (astrologer's  chart 
forecasting  the  future  of  a  new  born  babe).  I  was  born  under 
the  fortunate  star  of  Swanti  (Arcturus),  the  fifteenth  lunar 
asterism,  in  October,  1 883.  This  is  considered  a  most  pro- 
pitious time.  Every  drop  of  rain  falling  into  a  shell  in  the  time  of 
Swanti  becomes  a  pearl,  and  only  the  showers  of  this  season 
can  quench  the  thirst  of  the  bird  papaya,  which  cries  through 
so  many  months,  'Pio!  PioT  (I  am  thirsty!  I  am  thirsty!)  In 
our  ancient  mythology  Swanti  is  one  of  the  wives  of  the  sun. 
My  map  of  destiny  said  that  I  should  be  well  known  and  a 
saint;  that  I  should  have  for  my  friends  kings  and  princes.  I 
used  to  fancy  that  meant  the  rulers  of  my  country,  now  I  feel  that 
it  must  mean  being  a  friend  of  sons  of  the  King  of  kings!      Every 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  13 

child  of  Brahmin  parents  is  a  Shudra  (lowest  caste,  really  out- 
caste)  until  he  is  eight  years  old,  when  he  is  invested  with  the 
sacred  cord  and  becomes  a  dxvij,  a  twice  born  one  among  the 
Hindus.  When  I  had  reached  the  age  of  eight,  a  number  of 
pandits  came  to  assist  in  the  ceremonies  of  such  an  occasion,  but 
one  was  chosen  as  my  guru,  or  master,  who,  as  long  as  we  both 
lived,  was  to  be  my  religious  instructor.  The  chief  part  the 
guru  takes  in  such  a  ceremony  is  the  whispering  into  the  ear  of 
the  young  neophyte  that  mystic  sentence  called  a  mantra,  which 
may  be  nothing  more  than  the  exclamation  'OmT  with  this  added: 
'I  bow  to  Ram.'  'Om'  is  a  sacred  word  which  came  down  from 
heaven  from  the  only  voice  of  that  realm,  that  is  from  Vishnu. 
So  its  repetition  makes  all  holy  and  banishes  evil.  Even  before 
this  is  whispered  a  ring  of  }(usd  grass  has  been  placed  on  either 
hand  to  make  the  whole  body  pure. 

"This  is  the  story  of  the  l(usd  grass,  and  from  it  you  may 
gather  how  much  is  interwoven  into  every  ceremony  of  the 
Hindus.  Long  ago,  in  the  Age  of  Truth,  Vishnu  came  to 
earth  in  the  form  of  the  wild  boar,  that  is,  he  had  the  head  of 
a  wild  boar  but  the  body  of  a  man.  Vishnu's  proper  abode  is 
in  Paradise  behind  its  seven  gates,  but  one  day  four  sons  of 
Brahma,  created  by  the  thought  of  his  heart,  strayed  into  Para- 
dise, past  the  two  watchmen  of  each  gate  till  they  came  to  the 
seventh  where  they  were  forbidden  entrance  by  Jai  and  Vijai 
(victorious  ones).  The  young  sons  of  Brahma,  the  Creator,  said: 
'for  this  offense  we  doom  you  to  be  ral(shas  (demons)  through 
three  births.'  Thereupon  a  great  noise  arose  in  Paradise  and 
the  throne  of  Vishnu  trembled,  indicating  that  there  was  a 
disturbance  in  his  realm.  Out  the  monarch  came  and  the  doom 
of  his  watchmen  was  told  him.  He  said:  'Be  not  troubled, 
when  you  become  demons  I  will  slay  you  and  set  you  free;  after 
the  third  slaying  you  shall  take  your  place  again  by  the  seventh 
gate  of  Paradise.'      The  first  birth  of  these  two  sentinels  of  Vishnu 


14 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 


The  Demon  Rawan 

was  as  the  demons  Hiranank  (Golden-eyed)  and  Hirankashyap 
(Golden-bodied),  demons  like  shining  gold.  It  was  to  slay 
these,  and,  therefore,  to  set  his  sentinels  free  from  one  demon 
birth,  that  Vishnu  came  to  earth  in  the  wild  boar  incarnation. 
When  he  had  performed  this  liberation  he  shook  his  great  head 
with  the  long  tusks  and  shaggy  hair  of  the  wild  boar  till  the  hair 
fell  to  earth  and  sprang  up  as  long  green  }(usa  grass  which  ever 
afterward  was  used  to  make  holy  the  Hindu,  and  to  set  him 
apart  for  any  vocation.  Then  a  common  hemp  cord  is  extended 
across   one  shoulder   and    tied    loosely   under    the   other   arm.       In 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  15 

his  hand  a  staff  of  chewala  wood  is  next  placed,  and,  on  his  feet, 
shoes  of  the  same  material,  for  this  is  the  wood  sacred  to  great 
Brahma,  the  Creator.  The  boy  now  enters  his  age  of 
Brahmacharya  when  he  must  think  only  upon  religious  questions, 
must  always  sleep  upon  the  ground,  and  read  only  the  Vedas. 
He  may  not  live  with  his  parents,  but  must  go  to  dwell  with  his 
religious  teacher,  nor  may  he  marry  until  he  is  twenty-four.  He 
is  only  to  study  and  meditate  on  the  Vedas."  "But  how  many 
Brahmins  keep  to  this  religious  rule?"  I  asked.  "Very,  very 
few.  Once  when  I  was  the  priest  of  the  temple  here  a 
Brahmacharya  came.  He  spoke  only  Sanskrit,  but  I  under- 
stood he  wished  food,  and,  of  course,  arranged  that  he  receive  it. 
"I  was  not  sent  from  home  as  I  should  have  been,  according  to 
the  Hindu  Scriptures,  but  a  guru  or  master  was  called  to  the 
house,  not  to  teach  me  to  read,  for  that  I  was  taught  in  my  home, 
but  just  to  teach  me  religion.  Being  a  Kashyap  Brahmin  I  was 
taught  the  Yajur  Veda.  There  are  four  Vedas  believed  to  have 
proceeded  from  the  four  mouths  of  Brahma,  for  it  is  written  in 
the  Bhagavata  Purana: 

'From  Brahma,  the  Creator,  with  his  faces  four, 

Sprang  from  several  mouths  the  Vedas  four. 

When  in  meditation,  vast  and  deep, 

He  thought  upon  the  Worlds  To-Be  for  evermore! 

From  his  eastern  mouth,  Rig-Ved; 

From  his  southern,   Yajur;  from  the  ivest, 

Sam;  from  the  north,  Alhdravdn; 

Beside  praise,  sacrifice,  hymns  and  all  Best.' 

"Brahm,  the  all  pervading  essence  without  form,  called  the 
Great  Spirit,  commanded  Brahma  to  create  all  things;  there 
was  no  restriction— good,  bad  and  indifferent,  the  great  All  of  the 
universe  was  to  be  created  and  so  Brahma  obeyed,  though  him- 
self   unknowing    Good    from    Evil    until    the    Vedas    themselves 


o 


(0 

0Q 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  17 

springing  from  his  four  mouths  enlightened  him,  showing  to  him 
the  difference  between  Right  and  Wrong.  As  it  is  written  in 
the  Ramadan  of  Tulsi: 

'Both  Good  and  Evil  Brahma,  with  his  own  hand,  made. 
When  came  the   Veds  and  taught  the  nature  and  the  quality  of 
each  and  which  should  be  obeyed.' 

"There  is  then  a  distinction  between  Brahm  and  Brahma, 
the  former  is  believed  the  divine  essence,  while  the  latter  is  the 
first  of  the  Hindu  Triad;  Vishnu  the  Preserver  is  the  second  and 
Siva,  or  Shiv,  the  Destroyer,  is  the  third. 

"The  Yajur-Ved  treats  of  the  attributes  of  divinities  and  of 
the  order  of  temple  services.  It  is  supposed  to  be  especially  use- 
ful to  the  Hindu  student  of  divinity  to  prepare  him  in  all  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  an  idolatrous  priesthood.  Of  course,  I 
studied  Sanskrit,  the  very  language  of  the  gods,  and  committed  to 
memory  hundreds  of  mantras  and  prayers.  This  is  the  one 
I  have  so  often  reiterated  in  the  temple  just  outside  these  walls. 
I  said  it  in  the  morning  when  I  entered  the  temple  and  again 
when  I  passed  out  into  a  night  of  stars: 

'O/j,  God,  Parmdtma,  Spirit  great  and  high, 
Most  lowly,  useless  and  unworthy,  / 
To  come  within  Thy  temple's  sacred  walls, 
So  ignorant  I  of  habits  suited  to  these  holy  halls! 
And  coming  know  I  not  how  fitly  I  should  part 
From  Thy  great  Presence  with  an  unoffending  heart. 
Nor  know  I  how  to  worship  Thee; 
Nor  way  to  do  Thy  work  all  righteously! 
In  the  deep  wisdom  Thou  alone  dost  give 

Strong   grows   my   hand  and  ready  for  all  deeds   while    I  shall 
live!'  " 

How  I  wish   I   could   fittingly  write  what   Raghuwar  recites! 


18 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 


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SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  19 

First  he  intones  the  stately  Sanskrit  verse,  then  translates  it  into 
bald  Hindi,  lastly  I  versify  it  in  English.      Now  he  goes  on: 

"There  is  a  mantra  for  every  act  of  life,  but  few  Hindus 
know  them  or  say  them.  As  a  priest  I  used  to  repeat  this 
slok  each  morning  before  I  touched  Mother  Earth  with  my 
feet: 

'Om,*  Prithivi!  Upholder  of  all  worlds  upon  your  sacred  breast, 
Hail,  Devi!     Where  the  feel  of  Vishnu  and  all  gods  did  rest! 
Forgive  me  that  I  place  these  feet  impure,  these  feel  of  mine, 
Upon  Thy  face,  that  I  shall  tread  upon  Thee  through  the  shade 

and  shine. 
For  all  that  I  shall  do  this  day  Thy  greatness  to  offend, 
Forgive,  and  overlook  ^ne  deeds  which  I  shall  not  intend.' 

"When  we  go  to  bathe  there  is  many  a  slok  and  mantra  to 
be  said.  The  habit  of  my  life  has  been  when  entering  the  water 
of  lake  or  river  to  first  untie  the  knot  in  that  one  long  lock  of 
hair  which  every  Brahman  leaves  on  the  crown  of  his  head  and 
to  wash  it  first  of  all,  saying: 

'Oh,  Sacred  Lock,  the  daughter  of  a  god. 

Great  Brahma  s  child,  his  holy  seed, 
Performer  of  a  myriad  penances, 
I  make  this  prayer  for  thee,  wayst  thou  he  freed  r 

"Then  tying  the  knot  again  in  that  sign  of  Brahminhood  I 
was  used  to  say: 

'By  Brahma's  thousand  names,  and  by  the  hundred  names 
of  Shiv;  by  Vishnu's  thousand  epithets  for  thee,  O  Lock,  I 
give  obeisance  to  all  three  and  tie  again  the  knot!' 

"The  next  act  is  the  dipping  up  of  water  in  ihe  hand  while 
this  mantra  is  chanted: 

On,'   Earth! 


20  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

'O/j,  Ganges,  Jumna  and  Coddvari, 
Oh,  fair  Sarswati  and  Narhaddha, 
Oh,  Sindhu  and  Caveri,  hail! 
At  this  time,  oh,  pe  sacred  waters 
Meet  where  now  I  stand! 
Haste  here  together  with  your  lord — 
The  all-embracing  Sea!' 

"If  any  one  should  question:  'How  is  it  possible  for  all 
these  waters  to  mingle  in  the  well-known  lake  or  tank  of  our 
native  village?'  the  priest  replies:  'Man's  bidding  is  naught, 
but  by  the  power  of  the  mantra  all  this  miracle  comes  to  pass, 
just  as  the  tiny  spear  of  the  mahaut  (elephant  driver)  controls  a 
great  elephant  so  the  little  mantra  commands  the  river  goddesses.' 

It  happened,  the  night  this  part  of  the  life-story  was  told  me, 
that  a  very  old  anfyush,  or  elephant  spears  used  in  the  figure,  lay 
on  a  table  near  by.  I  had  purchased  it  not  long  before  as  a 
very  curious  piece  of  mechanism  in  the  capital  of  the  oldest 
reigning  house  in  India,  Oodeypore  of  the  Sun  Kings.  Raghu- 
war  took  it  up  and  by  a  dramatic  turn  took  me  far  back  to  the 
wars  of  this  eastern  land  in  the  days  before  an  English  face 
had  been  seen  amongst  her  palm  trees,  and  then  he  proceeded: 

"Those  days  in  Agra  I  spent  much  time  committing  to 
memory  mantras  and  slofys.  As  a  child  accepts  the  teachings 
of  his  elders  so  I  accepted  what  I  was  taught  quite  implicitly  up  to 
the  age  of  nineteen.  Perhaps  it  will  help  you  to  understand 
my  life  in  Agra  if  I  tell  you  the  routine  of  but  a  single  day.  In 
the  morning  I  arose  before  the  Sun  because  I  must  do  my  part  in 
assisting  Surya  Nardyan  (the  Sun)  to  conquer  the  fourteen  thou- 
and  demons  of  darkness,  so  I  hastened  down  to  the  blue  Jamna, 
the  daughter  of  the  Sun,  and  bathed,  saying  mantras,  and  then 
I  put  on  a  clean  drapery  and  seated  myself  on  the  stone  seats  of 
the  shore  underneath  the  shadow  of  the  high  rose  colored  walls  of 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU. 


21 


the  Fort,  where  I  could  look  away  to  the  shining  marble  purity 
of  the  Taj  Mahal  of  the  mogul,  Shah  Jahan.  You  have  been 
there,  but  have  you  ever  seen  the  picture  along  the  noble  Jamna 
in  the  first  soft  light  of  the  morning  when  Surya  Narayan  is 
fighting  the  hosts  of  darkness  till  streaks  of  blood-red  clouds  lie 
across  the  faint  blue  of  the  First  Time  (morning)  heavens?  It  is 
very  beautiful  even  to  eyes  long  accustomed  to  the  scene,  and 
every  morning  I  went  down  to  that  richly  decorated  riverside 
to  help  Surya  Narayan  fight  the  daily  fight  with  Darkness,  I, 
who  knew  not  the  True  Light  of  the  World,  with  my  copper 
dishes  and  sandal-wood,  sat  and  played  in  densest  darkness  by 
that  riverside.  You  know  we  use  brass  dishes  generally,  but 
never  in  the  worship  of  the  Sun,  only  copper  may  be  used  in  our 
ceremonies  then.  I  will  enumerate  all  I  took  with  me  to  use  in 
this  morning  worship: 


Articles  used  in  the  worship  of  the  sun.      In  the  middle  is 
the  copper  ladle  from  which  oblations  are  poured 

"A  copper  lota  used  only  for  this  purpose. 
"  1  wo  small,  straight-sided  copper  cups. 
"  Two  tiny  spoons  with  long  handles. 


22  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

"  Two  other  spoons  of  peculiar  shape. 

"Two  little  saucers. 

"Two  copper  plates. 

"A  stone  upon  which  to  powder  sandal- wood. 

"Sandal-wood. 

"A  book  of  Slofys  used  in  the  worship  of  the  Sun. 

"A  cow's  mouth-bag  with  a  tulsi  mala  (string  of  one  hun- 
dred and  eight  wooden  beads). 

"The  reason  I  took  with  me  two  of  each  article  was  that  one 
of  each  is  necessary  for  the  initial  worship  of  Vishnu,  who  is 
believed  by  the  Hindus  to  make  all  holy,  pure,  sanctified. 
Beginning  with  the  worship  of  Vishnu  before  going  on  to  the 
adoration  of  the  Sun  is  somewhat,  only  somewhat,  like  the 
preparations  one  makes  before  going  to  church,  bathing  and 
dressing  in  clean  clothes.  I  seated  myself  near  to  the  water's 
edge  and  dipped  up  a  little  in  my  hand  with  which  I  touched 
my  lips  to  purify  them  before  saying  the  following  mantra: 

'This,  my  unholy  boa1)),  molfe  it  sacred,  pure, 
With  all  its  members  sanctified  and  full  of  praise, 
That  xvhen  the  lotus  eyes  of  Vishnu  rest 
Upon  me  He  may  find  no  spot  unworthy  of  His  gaze!' 

"Next  I  took  up  the  bag  made  to  represent  the  head  of  the 
animal  most  sacred  to  the  Hindu — the  row.  In  this  bag,  which  is 
called  Gaomukhi  (cow-face)  and  which  you  must  often  have  seen, 
I  kept  my  tulsi  maid,  that  string  of  one  hundred  and  eight  wooden 
beads  used  in  the  worship  of  Vishnu,  and  upon  this  I  repeated 
once  for  every  bead  the  tr.anlra  whispered  in  my  ear  by  my  guru 
when  I  was  invested  with  the  sacred  cord,  supposedly  given  to  him 
by  some  occult  power.  It  was  in  Sanskrit,  of  course,  but  I  will 
translate  it  into  Hindi  for  you: 

'On?,  Great  One,  front  this  day  I  Thee  obey! 
And  thou,  my  honored,  kingly  guru,  to 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  23 

Thee  my  obeisance,  Namasfyar! 

The  mantra  thou  didst  teach  is  good  exceedingly  !' 

"Next  I  repeated  on  tre  round  of  the  mala  five  times,  that 
is  five  hundred  and  forty  repetitions,  the  Caitri.  This  mantra  is 
said  to  be  the  mother  of  the  Vedas,  and  the  Hindus  believe  by  its 
repetition  a  man  is  saved.  Once  a  Kshatri  (warrior)  from  re- 
peating this  mantra  became  a  Brahmin.  No  greater  miracle  could 
occur!  Of  course  he  had  to  repeat  it  some  thousands  of  years! 
It  is  the  most  sacred  text  of  all  the  Vedas  and  it  is  the  sunrise 
mantra  which  I  said  five  hundred  and  forty  times  each  morning 
for  years.     Strange  that  it  should  be  a  cry  for  light! 

'Om!     Now    meditate    upon    the    excellent    glory    of    the    divine 

Breather -of -Life, 
Shine  thy  light  into  our  darkness.' 

How  many  thousand  thousand  times  every  morning  is  this 
prayer  for  light  sent  up,  often  from  lips  that  do  not  understand,  but 
it  floats  out  in  a  cloud  of  murmured  prayer  from  the  Himalayas  to 
Ceylon — "Shine  thy  lighl  into  our  darkness!"  If  India  were 
heard  for  her  repetitions  the  burst  of  shining  glory  would  have 
come,  for  this  cry  has  gone  up  at  the  early  morning  hour  through 
long  centuries  of  idol  gloom  in  India;  and  who  can  say  that  God 
is  not  in  these  days,  in  His  way,  answering  the  prayer  of  the 
Gaitri  for  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  is  indeed  arising  "with  heal- 
ing in  His  wings." 

The  young  man  goes  on  thoughtfully:  "How  I  think  of  it 
now!  Do  we  Hindus  think  that  God  is  deaf,  that  we  keep  on 
this  millionfold  cry  of  the  Sunrise  mantra? 

"Oh,  how  familiar  is  the  Gaitri  to  me,  more  so  than  my  own 
name.  I  wonder  if  I  shall  ever  forget,  perhaps  I  shall  continue 
to  remember  in  order  to  help  others  to  receive  the  True  Light ! 

"After  many  vain  repetitions  I  made  my  libation  of  Jumna's 
water  to  the  Sun.      I  placed  in  the  special  copper  spoon  for  this, 


24  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

the  water,   took   it   in   my   hands   put   together   to   form   a   bowl, 
and  said  as  I  poured  the  libation  slowly  into  the  Jumna: 

'Oh,  Surya  Nardyan,  hail,  thou  thousandfold  light. 

Lord  of  the  Earth,  thou  art  a  mound  of  radiant  might! 

Hail,  Surya  Nardyan,  I  love  thee  with  an  holy  love  most  high. 

This  water  which  I  offer  thee  do  thou  accept  and  hear  my  cry. 

Oh,  Maker  of  the  Day,  do  thou  accept  and  heed  my  sigh!' 

"I  had  to  do  this  twenty-one  times  and  then  I  read  a  lesson 
from  my  book,  the  sun  Purdnd,  which  is  chiefly  made  up  of 
sloks  in  praise  of  the  Sun.  This  is  a  chief  slot?.  You  may 
remember  that  the  Sun  is  the  leader,  the  general  of  the  hosts  of 
the  gods  of  light.  Demons  are  black,  and  where  the  Sun  does 
not  lead  with  his  light  the  gods  cannot  see  to  make  battle  with 
their  midnight  foes! 

'Oh,  Surya  Nardyon!      On  every  side  your  ears  do  hear; 

All  things  you  make  most  shining  clear; 

You  taste  each  flower  and  fruit  and  tree; 

You  lead  the  shining  hosts  of  realms  most  free; 

You  are  the  Chief  and  Captain  of  the  Army  of  the  Day!' 

"When  this  was  done  and  Usha,  the  Dawn-wife  of  the  Sun, 
began  to  touch  the  Taj  with  her  pale  gold  fingers,  I  took  up  a 
spoonful  of  water  and  tossed  it  into  my  mouth  to  purify  it  as  I 
must  have  done  all  through  my  worship  if  my  mind  became  dis- 
tracted in  any  way  from  my  religious  duties. 

"Next  came  the  dutiful  worship  of  ancestors.  Manu,  the 
Moses  of  the  Hindus,  writer  of  laws,  established  that  between 
sunrise  and  four  o'clock  the  fathers  may  be  worshiped.  At 
this  morning  time  I  always  worshipped  the  forefathers  and  the 
second  metal  plate,  on  which  was  rice  and  other  grains,  was 
for  an  offering  to  them.  I  placed  the  grains  in  my  hands  and 
then  dipped  them  in  and  out  of  the  water  while  I  said,  'May 
the  Vedas  be  satisfied,   may  the  Moon  be  satisfied,   may  Vishnu 


SOMETIME    PRIEST   OF    VISHNU.  25 

be  filled,  Brahma,  Earth,  Mountains,  Wise  Sages,  Ancestors, 
Sacred  Rivers,  the  Ten  Pillars  that  support  the  Earth,  may 
all  be  satisfied!'  The  Hindu  believes  if  he  has  no  son  to 
perform  this  pujd  (worship)  his  soul  will  remain  in  Hades." 

At  this  point  I  asked  Raghuwar  if  a  man  should  die  leaving 
a  son,  who  should  also  die  later  without  a  son,  what  would 
happen.  He  answered  promptly  that  the  whole  line  back  to 
the  beginning  would  fall  into  the  Under  World  of  pain  and 
darkness,  and  there  remain  through  one  hundred  and  sixty  ages! 
"However,  there  is  this  provision,"  he  added,  "If  a  man  die 
leaving  a  son  who  has  no  son,  this  son  hastens  at  once,  if  he  be 
dutiful,  to  the  city  of  Gaya,  a  famous  place  of  pilgrimage,  where 
he  makes  an  offering  called  pind.  This  is  a  ball  of  rice  and  pulse 
or  of  flour,  or,  if  this  be  impossible  to  get,  or  the  suppliant  be  very 
poor,  a  ball  of  sand  may  be  bestowed.  By  this  offering  the  dead 
ancestors  are  saved  from  falling  into  the  depths,  but  woe  to  the 
man  who  has  no  son.  Straight  the  whole  line  go  to  the  realms  of 
Darkness  for  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  ages  which  Brahma  re- 
volves ! 

"My  early  morning  devotions  were  over;  indeed,  the  morn- 
ing was  well  advanced,  for  these  ceremonies  require  four  and  a 
half  hours.  We  were  twenty-two  students  who  went  through  all 
this  each  morning,  and  where  we  sat  no  common  nor  unclean  per- 
son was  allowed  to  come.  We  went  back  to  our  Vedic  college  for 
we  were  all  students  of  Sanskrit,  the  difficult  Sanskrit  of  the 
Vedas,  full  of  matras.  The  Upanishads  change  the  poetic  forms 
of  the  Vedas  into  prose  forms. 

"Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  how  our  college 
was  arranged.  From  one  long  veranda  opened  twenty- 
two  tiny  rooms  like  cells.  In  each  room  was  a  raised 
place  upon  which  to  spread  the  sleeping  mat.  Our  books 
and  brass  dishes  and  a  roll  of  clothing  were  the  sole  furnishings 
of   the   room,    excepting   the   pictures   of   gods   and   goddesses   on 


26  Raghuwar  dayal, 

the  walls.  We  had  no  idols  there  because  we  did  not  have  time 
to  serve  them  with  propriety.  I  had  a  picture  of  Ram  Chandra 
and  of  him  and  his  queen  Sita  in  my  room,  for  of  all  books  I  liked 
my  Valmikfs  Ramadan  the  best.  My  copy  was  all  separate 
leaves,  oblong  in  shape,  perhaps  eighteen  inches  long,  and  the 
leaves  piled  one  above  another  reached  a  height  of  about  the  same 
number  of  inches.  I  came  to  know  the  book  so  well  that  if 
the  wind  scattered  the  pages  I  could  put  them  together  in  order 
again.  The  four  Vedas  were  similarly  arranged,  each  a  great, 
high  pile  of  leaves.  As  I  said  before,  my  especial  study  was  the 
Yajur  Ved,  which  is  in  two  sections,  the  White  and  Black.  You 
must  know  that  each  god  has  his  own  special  color,  and  Brahma's 
is  white;  Vishnu  and  the  Sun  each  claim  red;  Indra,  the  Sky-god, 
who  holds  the  lightning's  sword  in  his  hand,  whose  bow  is  the 
rain-bow,  owns  the  color  of  his  ethereal  abode,  blue.  Many 
believe  the  White  Yajur-Ved  gets  its  name  from  Brah- 
ma's color.  I  studied  the  Black  especially,  which  we  called  the 
Partridge  Veda,  because  when  Vyasa,  the  original  teacher  of 
it,  became  displeased  with  one  of  his  disciples  he  told  him  to 
return  all  the  knowledge  he  had  imparted !  Forthwith  the  disciple 
was  compelled  to  eject  it  from  his  mouth,  and  the  other  pupils, 
seizing  this  opportunity  to  obtain  knowledge  second-hand,  be- 
came partridges  and  appropriated  the  wisdom  of  their  Master 
in  the  way  approved  of  at  certain  periods  in  the  school-boy's  life, 
that  is,  they  ate  it ! 

"There  is  also  this  story  about  the  White  Veda,  that  the 
Sun  from  the  mouth  of  the  horse,  Vajur,  taught  the  disappointed 
disciple  of  Vyasa  the  White  or  Bright  Yajur  Veda  which  is 
thought  to  be  the  clearer  of  the  two. 

"As  I  have  said  I  learned  hundreds  of  rnanlras,  and  in  the 
few  words  of  each,  pages  on  pages  of  meaning  might  be  written. 
If  I  repeat  to  you  four  lines  the  explanation  will  fill  four  pages, 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  27 

but  I  will  say  a  short  one   from  the  Yajur  which  pandits  often 
say  when  they  are  together;  it  is  in  praise  of  Vishnu: 

'To  thee  are  thousand  lines  like  veins  that  reach  into  all  worlds, 
To  thee  a  hundred  eyes,  to  thee  that  hundredfold  wisdom, 
Thou  fynowest  the  secrets  of  the  heavens, 
Lord,  nor  in  no  World  is  hidden  aught 
Which  is  unknown  to  thee.' 

"There  are  eighteen  Puranas,  that  is,  teachings  handed  down 
from  ancient  times.  I  read  the  Vishnu  Purana  the  most,  which 
treats  of  Krishna.  You  probably  know  some  of  the  stories  of 
Krishna.  He  is  the  ninth  and  last  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  and  not 
at  all  like  the  one  expected  as  the  tenth  incarnation,  for  the  one 
to  come  is  to  be  the  Blameless  Incarnation.  He  is  to  be  born 
in  Moradabad  of  a  Brahmin  family,  and  this  is  commonly  spoken 
of  him,  that  he  will  go  about  on  a  white  horse  with  black  ears. 
To  all  who  accept  him  he  will  have  a  sweet  fragrance,  but 
to  those  who  will  not  receive  him  he  will  have  an  odor  deadly 
and  evil.  But  we  are  wandering  from  the  last  incarnation  of 
Vishnu — Krishna.  He  often  helped  the  weak  and  his  dark 
deeds  the  Hindus  can  put  in  a  white  light,  but  it  is  certain  that 
he  has  left  behind  him  many  a  low  and  evil  practice.  Krishna 
was  the  son  of  Vasudeva,  and  there  was  a  prophecy  that  the 
eighth  son  of  this  same  Vasudeva  would  kill  his  uncle  Kansa, 
King  of  Mathura,  who  was  indeed  a  demon-born  one.  Kansa 
had  so  afflicted  gods  and  men  that  Earth  went  to  the  parlia- 
ment of  the  gods  and  threatened  to  throw  herself  down  into  the 
lower  regions  unless  Vishnu  did  something  to  relieve  her  of  her 
burdens!  He  promised  to  come  as  the  son  of  Vasudeva's  wife, 
her  eighth  son. 

"The  attendant  of  Vishnu  is  the  many  headed  snake  Shesha. 
Whenever  the  god  became  incarnate  the  snake  also  took  some  form 
in  order  to  remain  his  servant.       He  came  as  the  seventh  son  of 


28  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

Vasudeva.  He  was  miraculously  saved  from  Kansa,  and  when 
Krishna  was  born  his  earth-father  carried  him  away  from  the 
palace  while  Indra  rained  upon  the  earth  and  drove  all  the 
inhabitants  into  their  houses  that  no  one  might  know  of 
Krishna's  birth  and  tell  Kansa.  Shesha  accompanied  this  last 
incarnation  of  Vishnu  and  held  his  many  heads  over  the  babe 
as  an  umbrella !  When  V  asudeva  reached  the  Jumna  it  rose  up 
to  kiss  the  feet  of  Vishnu  incarnate,  and  would  have  drowned 
Vasudeva  had  the  babe  not  reached  down  his  foot  and  touched 
the  Jumna  before  it  got  over  his  earth-father's  head!  Vasudeva 
took  Krishna  to  the  house  of  the  herdsman,  Nand.  Shesha  be- 
came Balaram,  his  companion  and  protector.  Krishna  lived  among 
the  cowherds  and  married  Radha,  a  milkmaid  who  was  really 
Lakshmi,  the  goddess  of  wealth  and  Vishnu's  queen.  Once 
there  was  a  peculiar  battle  when  fever  sent  out  by  Shiv  fought 
with  fever  engendered  by  Krishna  and  the  latter  was  victorious. 
When  fever  of  Shiv  departed  he  said:  'Whoso  recalleth  this 
battle  shall  be  exempt  from  all  febrile  diseases.'  Still  is  this 
believed  by  the  Hindus  and  the  story  told  to  fever-stricken  people. 
"How  many  hours  I  have  spent  learning  stories  of  the  gods, 
tales  I  studied  as  solemn  truth.  We  lived  in  a  busy  city  where  there 
is  the  thunder  of  trains  and  factories,  where  there  are  modern 
colleges  and  schools,  but  we  pursued  our  lives  in  our  most  ancient 
hall  of  learning  as  our  fellows  did  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Each 
cooked  his  own  food,  sitting  on  the  place  specially  consecrated 
for  this  purpose,  and  there  each  ate  his  rice  and  pulse  and  bread 
and  vegetables  quite  alone.  We  were  all  Kashyap  Brahmins,  but 
we  never  sit  and  eat  together  unless  born  of  the  same  parents, 
and  some  brothers  are  so  afraid  of  tarnishing  their  caste  that 
they  eat  apart  from  others  of  their  own  family!  Food  that  is 
cooked  in  butter  or  syrup  we  may  eat  away  from  the  consecrated 
spot,  and,  perhaps,  you  have  observed  that  Hindu  travellers  eat 
only  sweets  and  those  cakes  called  puns  cooked  in  melted  butter. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  29 

We  could  have  the  outcaste  drawer  of  water  called  a  Kahar 
to  wash  up  our  brass  dishes.  Such  outcastes  are  called  Antij ; 
that  is  those  who  are  born  at  the  end  of  the  line  and  who  must 
travel  through  successive  births  and  rebirths,  through  countless 
generations,  yes,  even  countless  ages!  So  my  day  passed  by  in 
what  is  very  like  a  monastery.  When  sunset  approached  we 
again  went  to  the  blue  Jamna  to  help  Surya  Narayan  on  his 
way.  We  bathed  and  each  put  on  a  silk  drapery  and  sat  down 
for  the  evening  worship.  Figuratively,  at  such  times  we  put  on 
our  armour  by  saying  this  mantra.  It  is  short,  but  as  we  say  it 
heart,  eyes,  head  are  touched  and  much  is  enfolded  in  it: 

'This  life  no  weapon  can  wound,  no  fire  can  burn,  no  water 
drown,  no  wind  parch,  all,  all  is  guarded.' 

"Next  I  poured  out  from  the  copper  spoon  dedicated  to  the 
Sun  the  evening  oblation,  and  then  I  clapped  my  hands  three 
times  in  honor  of  the  Creator,  the  Preserver,  the  Destroyer ;  then 
I  threw  water  about  me  in  a  circle  to  keep  any  evil  spirit  from 
interrupting  my  devotions.  I  said  again  and  again  the  Gailri,  and 
finally  when  the  Sun  sank,  throwing  back  crimson  and  gold  glows 
upon  the  shining  purity  of  the  Taj,  I  went  back  to  the  college 
with  my  fellows. 

"I  have  not  told  you  about  our  recitations.  Our  pandit  was 
Sitaram,  a  very  learned  Hindu.  We  twenty-two  novices  sat  in 
a  line  before  him  with  our  'Leviticus'  open  before  us,  though  we 
were  not  supposed  to  look  into  it.  Indeed,  so  alert  was  our 
master  that  he  saw  any  glance  downward,  and  the  offender  was 
thrown  out  of  the  recitation.  So  trained  was  his  ear  that,  though 
we  recited  in  concert,  any  slip  in  the  recitation  of  a  slolf  or 
mantra  was  at  once  detected  by  him  as  a  money  changer  knows 
which  rupee  rings  false  when  a  handful  is  thrown  on  the  ground 
and  quickly  tosses  out  the  spurious  coin !  We,  also,  who  mis- 
quoted, were  dropped  out! 

"We  did  not  go  often  to  the  town  or  the  bazar,  but  there 


V 

-o 


> 


Qu 
< 


SOMETIME    PRIEST   OF    VISHNU.  31 

was  one  place  by  the  railway  bridge  where  we  sometimes  paused  to 
see  a  band  of  men  whom  we  knew  as  men  bent  on  spreading 
some  new  religion ;  we  noticed,  too,  that  the  speakers  were  young 
men  of  India,  with  a  white  man  accompanying  them,  a  different 
one  each  week." 

"Probably  young  men  from  the  Agra  Bible  College  came 
there  to  preach." 

I  interrupted  him  with  this  remark,  and  he  went  on  to  say, 
"Yes,  I  now  know  that  on  those  days  I  was  near  to  the  answer 
to  my  prayer  for  light.  We  were  all,  however,  quite  wrapped 
up  in  our  devotions  and  in  the  long  lessons  to  be  learned  by  rote. 
I  was  very  ambitious  to  go  to  Benares  also. 

"We  believed  in  those  days  that  the  seven  great  shrines  of 
our  country  were  pieces  of  the  abode  of  the  gods,  and  every  one  of 
these  portions  of  Paradise  dropped  down  upon  India  from  above 
is  a  place  of  pilgrimage,  but  Benares,  of  all,  is  the  religious  cap- 
ital of  the  Hindus.  It  is  said  and  believed  by  the  majority  that 
every  living  creature  which  dies  in  Benares  expires  with  the  right 
ear  upward,  and  Shiva  himself  whispers  this  mantra  in  the  ex- 
posed ear: 

'Om!   Rama,  Giver  of  Salvation,  all  is  a  burnt  offering  to 
Brahm!' 

"So  the  Hindus  say  one  who  dies  in  Kashi,  the  Splendid,  is 
certain  of  salvation.  Of  course,  the  Hindu  idea  of  salvation  is 
not  the  Christian's;  the  Hindu  is  saved  from  going  backward  in 
the  line  of  reincarnations,  hastened  toward  unconscious  absorp- 
tion into  the  Deity ;  this  is  mulfii,  salvation. 

"It  may  be  as  well  here  to  state  the  Hindu  idea  of  degrees  in 
salvation.  The  first  salvation  is  called  that  of  nearness  to  Cod; 
one  may  be  in  any  form  or  condition,  but  near  to  Cod.  The  sec- 
ond is  in  being  of  god-lil(e  form  in  any  one  of  the  ivorlds;  the 
third  is  being  in  any  form,  but  abiding  in  Cod's  world,  and  yet 
not  necessarily  near  to  Cod;  the  fourth  and   highest  salvation  is 


32  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

absorption  into  the  deity  with  no  separate  existence.  When  I 
was  a  Hindu  /  did  not  desire  this  last  and  so-called  greatest  sal- 
vation. I  did  not  wish  my  individuality  swallowed  up,  rubbed 
out,"  so  said  Raghuwar  earnestly  to  me. 

"I  attended  in  Benares  a  much  larger  Hindu  college  than 
in  Agra.  There  were  five  hundred  students,  all  Brahmins,  of 
course.  It  is  called  the  Vedanta  Pathshala  (school),  and  its 
patron  is  the  Rajah  of  Benares,  who  is  a  worshipper  of  Shiv, 
and  the  college  is  near  his  palace.  The  head  or  president  of  this 
religious  training  school  is  Dulichand  Shastri,  and  there  must  be 
twenty-five  or  thirty  pandits  under  him.  We  did  not  have  to 
cook  our  food  there,  but  each  separate  division  of  the  Brahmin 
caste  had  its  separate  cook,  and  the  school  gave  us  free  one  meal 
a  day.  The  parents  of  the  pupils  usually  furnished  them  with 
enough  money  to  buy  an  evening  meal  also. 

"We  had  to  study  incessantly  in  this  college  of  the  sacred 
books,  excepting  that  from  four  to  eight  each  morning  we  wor- 
shipped by  the  riverside." 

I  could  not  but  note  here  how  truly  the  Hindu  student  of  re- 
ligion keeps  his  Morning  Watch.  The  young  priest  of  Vishnu 
still  observes  this  watch,  but  oh,  how  differently ! 

"We  went  to  worship  Surya  Narayan  by  the  bathing  place 
of  Brahma.  We  believed  the  Creator  himself  had  sanctified  it 
by  here  performing  his  ablutions.  There  were  fifteen  hundred 
huge  umbrellas  made  of  matting  where  we  could  sit  at  our  ease 
during  those  long  morning  devotions.  We  returned  to  the  col- 
lege and  studied  till  ten,  when  came  the  meal  of  the  day,  fol- 
lowed by  study  again  until  noon,  when  we  began  our  recita- 
tions. My  principal  subject  in  this  college  was  the  Rig- Veda.  It 
is  a  very  large  book  and  a  towering  pile  of  leaves !  This  Veda 
is  made  up  of  praises.  My  favorite  of  the  Vedas,  however,  was 
the  Sama  Veda,  which  has  a  peculiar  history.  \  ou  remember 
that  the  King  of  Birds,  Garud,  as  he  bore  Vishnu  through  the 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  33 

air,  made  a  rythmical  beating  with  his  wings,  from  which  came 
the  Sama  Veda.  Its  subject  is  Vishnu,  and  as  I  was  preparing 
for  his  priesthood,  I  studied  this  book  with  especial  diligence. 
This  is  a  mantra  which  I  very  much  liked: 

"  '77ie  Invisible  Vishnu,  in  whose  light  the  world  lies  at 
peace;  he  calms  the  storm;  by  him  all  healing  arts  bring  perfect 
health;  he  quiets  the  murmur  of  the  forest  leaves;  to  the  Creaw 
himself  he  gives  peace.' 

"I  stayed  and  studied  in  this  stronghold  of  the  Hindu  re- 
ligion for  two  years.  I  lived  in  a  dense  atmosphere  of  idolatry ; 
every  incident  of  daily  life  was  bound  up  with  ceremony.  I  was 
preparing  for  temple  service.  I  performed  no  priestly  of- 
fices as  yet,  but  my  mind  was  being  packed  with  words  in  praise 
of  the  gods  or  petition  to  them.  After  the  two  years  were  over 
I  went  to  my  home  for  a  little  while,  and  while  there  spent  my 
time  on  the  Ramayan.  My  mother  did  not  like  for  me  to  go  off 
to  school  again,  but  my  father  and  grandfather  wished  that  we 
brothers  should  all  be  great  pandits,  so  my  elder  brother,  Chan- 
drawan,  went  with  me  to  Brindaban,  the  scene  of  the  youth  of 
Krishna.  It  is  near  his  city,  Mathura,  and  is  a  town  of  tem- 
ples; there  are  three  hundred  and  sixty  of  them,  and  nearly  all  are 
magnificent  in  their  proportions.  A  number  are  of  radiant  white 
marble,  pure  against  the  green  of  their  forest  surroundings.  The 
daily  labor  of  the  workmen  on  one  temple  cost  eighty  thousand 
rupees  ($26,000)  ;  the  materials  were  far  more.  Almost  all  of 
these  rich  buildings  are  for  the  enshrining  of  idols  of  Krishna  and 
Radha,  his  milkmaid  spouse.  In  the  days  of  this  incarnation  of 
Vishnu,  Brindaban  was  a  wild  and  beautiful  forest  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jumna.  Krishna  lived  in  the  village  of  Nand  with  his 
foster  parents,  the  keeper  of  herds  and  his  wife.  Grand  old 
trees  still  shadow  this  collection  of  temples.  One  bathing  pool 
is  called  the  Banvan  Chat;  there  is  still  a  widely  spreading  ban- 
yan tree  there,  and  it  is  written  in  the  Bhdgavat  that  Krishna  sat 


34  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

on  the  branches  of  this  tree  and  played  such  wondrously  sweet 
music  on  his  flute  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  forest  stopped 
their  work  charmed  and  stood  motionless! 

"From  the  bathing  places  of  Brindaban  the  Jumna  never  de- 
parts as  it  does  recede  from  many  other  of  its  banks.  There  is 
one  bathing  place  known  as  'The  Conquered  Thought.'  Once 
when  Krishna  succumbed  to  the  childish  temptation  to  eat  clay, 
his  foster  mother  told  him  to  open  his  mouth  and  show  her  what 
he  had  in  it!  He  did  so,  and,  behold,  the  whole  earth  unrolled 
before  her  in  the  boy's  mouth,  mountains,  rivers  and  seas!  She 
recognized  then  that  the  child  she  had  come  to  chastise  with  her 
stick  was  a  changeling,  a  child  of  the  gods !  So,  as  it  was  by  the 
riverside  she  changed  her  opinion  of  Krishna,  this  bathing  place 
is  called  'The  Place  of  the  Conquered  Thought.' 

"I  lived  on  Krishna  Street  in  the  house  of  a  pandit  and 
learned  amidst  the  scene  of  Krishna's  youth  about  this  incarna- 
tion of  Vishnu.  I  studied  with  a  learned  pandit  the  Bhagavata 
Purana,  the  subject  of  which  is  the  Krishna  incarnation.  There 
were  four  of  us  who  read  together.  We  had  to  tell  the  mean- 
ings of  the  slofys  to  our  master  as  we  sat  before  him  with  our 
Sanskrit  books. 

"As  Brindaban  is  a  favorite  place  of  pilgrimage  and  the  latest 
incarnation  of  Vishnu  very  popular,  I  saw  my  brothers  in  race 
and  religion  thronging  into  this  forest  place  of  temples  by  the 
thousands,  all  seeking,  seeking!  Perhaps  I  should  relate  here 
what  a  pilgrim  generally  does  when  he  comes  to  such  a  place  of 
idolatrous  worship. 

"  1  here  is  a  narrow-guage  railway  from  the  city  of  Mathura 
to  Brindaban  and  the  fare  is  four  pice  (two  cents).  The  train 
stops  at  a  station  which  is  but  a  part  of  a  Krishna  temple.  At 
train  time  the  station  is  simply  thronged  with  priests,  each  with  a 
large-paged  book  bound  in  red,  which  is  rolled  up  like  a  scroll. 
You  must  often  have  seen  such  in  a  merchant's  shop.      What  do 


SOMETIME    PRIEST   OF    VISHNU.  35 

you  suppose  this  register  is?  Well,  it  is  full  of  the  names  of  the 
townspeople  and  of  the  neighboring  villagers  of  this  certain  priest's 
native  place.  All  the  Hindus  in  this  particular  district  are  en- 
rolled in  his  curious  brown  paper  book,  the  names  of  the  heads 
of  families  and  all  their  descendants.  As  soon  as  a  pilgrim  gets 
off  the  train  a  priest  approaches  him  and  asks  his  village  or  dis- 
trict first;  if  it  happens  to  be  also  the  district  of  the  priest  he 
ascertains  the  pilgrim's  name,  and  can  tell  him  if  any  of  his  an- 
cestors far  back  ever  trod  in  the  footprints  of  Krishna  in  the  for- 
est of  Brindaban.  If  he  nor  other  priests  can  find  the  name,  there 
is  this  provision:  A  certain  distinguished  priest  is  appointed  as 
the  guide  of  all  such.  You  must  remember  that  these  priests  are 
not  the  same  as  those  who  perform  the  rites  of  a  temple.  These 
are  guides  to  worship."  As  Raghuwar  described  the  pandas  to 
me  they  seemed  perfectly  expressed  by  the  words  "religious  drum- 
mer."     Raghuwar  continues: 

"If  the  pilgrim's  name  be  enrolled  in  the  panda's  register,  he 
says,  'Yes,  here  your  father  came;  he  gave  me  such  and  such  a 
gift;  here  are  the  names  of  your  ancestors  further  back  than  you 
yourself  know.  Your  great  grandfather,  Vijai  Singh,  came  here 
and  gave  my  predecessor  a  cow!"  He  shows  the  eagerly  listen- 
ing and  delighted  pilgrim  his  long,  scroll-like  book,  with  some 
old,  old  pages.  Is  it  strange  that  there  is  a  singular  feeling  of 
homelikeness,  of  being  known,  of  great  hope  of  great  things?  Ah, 
the  pilgrims  feel  that  they  are  on  holy  ground  at  Brindaban,  for 
every  place  Krishna's  young  feet  trod  is  sacred,  and  my  feet  from 
touching  his  pathway  shall  be  fit  and  cleansed  for  Paradise!  You 
will  find  this  hard  to  understand  as  I  proceed  with  my  story,  for 
all  that  enters  into  worship  is  not  what  you  have  learned  from 
your,  no,  oar  Book." 

"Are  the  pilgrims  satisfied?"  I  asked.  "I  know  most  are  not. 
I  hey  believe  sin  rolls  from  them  there,  and  yet  right  in  the  very 
footprints  of  Krishna,  sin  after  sin  is  committed;  thev  believe  that 


36  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

they  actually  receive  freedom  from  the  power  of  sin,  and  they  go 
back  with  even  new  impulses  toward  sinning.  Oh,  it  is  sad,  sad ! 
"I  was  telling  you  of  the  pandas'  registers.  In  every  great 
place  of  pilgrimage  in  India  the  names  of  my  ancestors  are  writ- 
ten, yes,  and  my  name  is  written  in  every  one  of  the  seven  great 
centers.  When  a  pilgrim  has  found  his  priestly  guide  he  is  taken 
to  some  famous  bathing  place  in  the  Jumna  for  his  cleansing,  and 
then  the  priest  conducts  him  to  his  own  home.  By  gifts  of  the 
rich  for  generations,  this  house  is  large  and  can  easily  accommo- 
date, in  our  style  of  living,  a  hundred  guests.  There  are  the 
little  fireplaces  where  each  may  cook  his  own  meals;  there  is  a 
shelter  off  the  courtyard  and  a  place  to  put  away  his  foodstuffs 
and  dishes.  Oh,  monkeys  simply  swarm  in  the  forests !  For  cen- 
turies they  have  been  considered  soldiers  of  Ram?c  and  this  gen- 
eration is  most  bold  and  daring,  troublesome,  destructive  and  ill- 
tempered  !  To  eat  in  peace  one  must  go  in  the  house  and  shut 
the  door  or  the  food  will  be  straightway  snatched !  The  windows 
of  all  houses  in  Brindaban  are  barred,  so  one  can  get  some  air 
together  with  protection  from  the  marauding  army  of  Rama !  The 
pandas  are  ever  ready  with  all  kinds  of  information  about  every 
sacred  spot  and  will  gladly  guide  strange  feet  in  the  footprints 
of  Krishna,  so  the  eager  pilgrim  says:  'Great  King,  I  pray  you 
show  me  all  the  main  places  bur  religion  makes  most  sacred.' 
The  panda  assents  and  starts  out  with  a  group  of  pilgrims.  If  he 
be  a  scholar,  as  very  few  of  them  are,  he  has  a  perfect  guide  to 
Brindaban  in  the  Bhagavat  Purana.  Few  of  the  pilgrims  can 
even  read  Hindi,  to  say  nothing  of  Sanskrit.  It  is  not  pleasant 
reading  about  Krishna  in  all  parts  of  his  Purana,  mischievous  and 
disobedient  as  a  child,  and  as  he  grew  up  often  stealing  from  the 
herdsmen  and  disgracing  his  foster  parents.  Some  say  he  is  only 
a  portion  of  a  portion  of  the  essence  of  Vishnu;  some  say  he  was 
nothing  short  of  Vishnu  himself.  In  the  Bhagavad  Gita  there  is 
a  different  presentation  of  Krishna.      This  song  is  a  part  of  a  large 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  37 

book  of  our  land  called  the  Mahabharat  or  the  great  war.  It 
is  the  philosophy  of  Krishna  as  related  to  his  cousin  Arjuna, 
and  one  forgets  in  this  the  mischievous  boy  who  stole  the  milk- 
maid's butter  and  the  youth  who  danced  with  the  queens  of  the 
dairy.  He  is  a  philosopher,  and,  in  the  Mahabharat  itself,  a  great 
warrior. 

"This  is  an  example  of  the  wisdom  of  Krishna  as  expressed 
poetically  in  this  small  but  compact  part  of  the  story  of  the 
great  war: 

'The  wise  man  and  the  doer  of  wisdom, 

One  indeed  are  they — 
Where  worker  finds  reward,  the  wis?  man  finds  the  same-- 

This  in  equal  Way.' 

"We  must  return  to  the  pilgrims  and  their  guide.  The 
largest  temple  of  all  will  be  one  of  the  first  places  visited.  It  is 
of  red  sandstone,  and  in  it  is  the  golden  image  of  an  incarnation 
of  Rama's  younger  brother,  Laksl.man.  It  is  called  Shrirang. 
I  ruly  it  is  a  temple  to  a  god  of  gold.  Here  very  much  gold  and 
silver  is  probably  offered,  it  is  also  the  Bank  of  a  great  merchant 
family  in  the  city  of  Mathura.  1  hree  or  four  hundred  years 
ago  an  ancester  of  this  house  invested  his  vast  estate  and  treasures 
of  gold  and  jewels  in  this  immense  temple.  Quite  a  sum  remained 
over  and  it  was  placed  in  the  temple  coffers,  and  to  this  day,  ac- 
cording to  the  provision  in  the  great  merchant's  will,  his 
descendants   may  receive  necessary   money   from  the  temple. 

"When  the  pilgrims  visit  this  place  some  one  of  them  may 
promise,  for  instance,  that  he  will  give  a  hundred  rupees  to  the 
god  if  his  son  recovers  from  a  certain  illness,  and  he  is  thoroughly 
informed  that  if  he  does  not  fulfill  his  vow  he  will  be  stricken 
dumb ! 

"Next  the  guide  may  direct  his  party  to  the  beautiful  white 
marble   temple  of    Bihari    Lai,   whose   great    fortune  built    it.      In 


38 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 


this  is  a  leaden  image  of  Krishna,  his  proper  color,  the  blue- 
gray  of  lead.  I  used  to  like  to  go  to  these  temples  because  the 
most  learned  pandits  were  there. 

"Three  years  of  the  valuable  time  of  my  youth  were  spent 
there,  and  then  I  returned  to  my  home  town  and  began  my 
calling  of  Reader  of  the  Puranas. 


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Puran  Reading  in  a  Temple 

"I  read  to  the  people,  in  many  portions  I  recited,  for  these 
great  books,  the  Bhagavat  Purana  of  Krishna  and  Valmikfs 
Ramayan,  I  still  know  almost  entirely  by  rote;  as  my  English 
lesson  is  most  plain  to  you  so  the  difficult  s/o/fs  of  the  Puranas 
are  to  me!  I  recited  the  entire  Bhagavat  Purana  in  one  village, 
and  in  another  near  the  Ramayan.  Each  took  me  four  months. 
1  here  was  no  small  preparation  made  for  my  entertainment,  and 
it  meant  a  very  continuous  and  almost  arduous  occupation.  How- 
ever, I  loved  to  recite  and  explain,  and  every  day  I  received 
the  worship  of  the  host  of  the  village.  That  is,  some  man  of  the 
village  who  wished  to  attain  merit  for  himself  called  me,  provided 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  39 

the  place  for  the  reading,  my  food  for  the  day  and  paid  me 
money  beside  giving  presents.  The  place  of  the  reading  was 
beautifully  decorated  with  feathery  green  bamboos,  a  little  throne 
was  made  of  soft  rugs  and  cushions,  and  on  this  I  would  sit 
from  six  in  the  morning  until  one  in  the  afternoon,  and  from 
four  to  eight  in  the  afternoon,  and  recite  the  Puranas.  Each 
day  for  four  months,  twice  a  day,  a  palanquin  and  a  horse  were 
sent  to  my  home.  The  palanquin  was  to  bear  the  sacred  book, 
wrapped  in  silken  coverings ;  mine  had  first  red  and  then  green 
and  gold  spotted  silk.  The  horse  was  for  me.  Perhaps  four  or 
five  hundred  men,  women  and  children  were  gathered  to  hear  me 
read  and  explain  the  difficult  poetical  meanings.  They  questioned 
me  also  when  they  did  not  understand.  When  I  was  seated  on 
my  cushion  the  host  worshipped  the  book;  he  threw,  with  the 
little  spoon  called  the  cichman,  a  few  drops  of  water  in  his  mouth 
to  purify  him,  then  he  rubbed  on  the  holy  volume  powdered 
sandalwood  and  fragrant  flowers  and  heaped  garlands  upon  it ; 
rice,  tulsi  leaves,  sweets  and  money  were  offered  and  incense 
burned.  Then  came  my  turn.  He  touched  my  feet  worshipfully, 
on  my  fore-head  he  placed  red  paint  and  a  few  grains  of  rice, 
garlanded  me  and  burnt  incense,  and  then  music  struck  up  and  I 
began  to  read  immediately  afterward.  When  the  incense  was 
burned  all  the  people  stood  up.  The  host  and  hostess  must 
always  be  present,  their  draperies  are  usually  tied  together  and 
he  has  on  his  hands  the  sanctifying  rings  of  }(usd  grass.  As  I 
read,  five  or  seven  Brahmins  sat  before  me,  saying  on  their  beads 
the  whole  time:  'Om!  We  salute  the  son  of  Basdev  (Krishna)  !' 
"  1  o  each  of  these  Brahmins  the  host  had  to  give  four  annas 
(eight  cents)  each  day  besides  food.  At  the  end  I  received,  in  one 
village,  three  hundred  and  fifty  rupees  and  a  shawl  of  fine  wool 
embroidered  with  gold  thread  which  cost  probably  two  hundred 
and  fifty  rupees.  (In  all  about  two  hundred  dollars,  a  very 
large  sum  in  India.) 


40  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

"In  the  next  village  I  received  two  hundred  and  fifty  rupees 
and  a  pair  of  gold  bracelets  and  three  beautiful  draperies  for 
women's  dress  which  I  gave  to  my  sisters-in-law. 

"After  reading  these  two  books  to  the  people  I  started  on 
my  pilgrimages.  I  took  the  train  at  Gwalior,  which  is  the  large 
and  beautiful  capital  of  the  Mahratta  King  Jiwaji  Maharaj. 
There  are  many  temples  there,  the  oldest  one  is  beneath  the  fort 
and  is  a  Rama  Lakshman  temple.  I  had  received  my  certificate 
of  worship,  I  had  passed  in  the  art  and  form  of  religious  de- 
votion, I  could  perform  worship  where  common  people  were  not 
allowed ! 

"My  destination  was  Allahabad,  and  the  temples  of  Gwalior 
seemed  tame  affairs  to  me  after  Brindaban  or  Benares.  I  had 
to  take  with  me  a  man  to  carry  my  books,  for  the  weight  of  each 
was  twenty  or  twenty-two  pounds !  I  knew  many  people  in 
Allahabad,  but  I  stayed  in  the  house  of  a  Hindu  saint  who 
belonged  to  our  part  of  the  country.  His  house  was  on  the  edge 
of  the  Ganges  and  from  its  balconies  we  could  see  Ganga's  yellow 
tide  stretch  far,  far  away  to  where  tie  Jumna  meets  it.  You 
remember  how  it  looks  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers?" 

"Yes,"  I  answer,  "it  is  wonderful  that  in  a  straight  line  one 
cdn  see  the  joining  of  the  two  rivers,  for  the  Ganges  is  yellow 
from  the  soil  it  devours  in  the  first  stages  of  its  journey  from  the 
hJirnalayas  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  By  the  time  it  reaches 
Allahabad  it  has  attained  a  majestic  flow,  but  it  is  still  yellow 
while  the  Jumna  is  clear  and  blue  and  the  place  of  the  meeting 
of  the  waters  is  a  distinct  /inc." 

By  questioning  I  found  out  these  facts  from  Raghuwar  about 
sacred  rivers:  "  The  Ganges  came  down  from  heaven  to  bring 
to  life  the  sixty  thousand  sons  of  Rajah  Sagar  which  were  so 
many  heaps  of  ashes  in  the  lower  regions.  She  was  afraid  that 
when  she  struck  the  earth  she  would  destroy  everything,  so  Shiv 
said  he  would  catch  her  mighty  volume  in  his  long  matted  hair. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  41 

He  felt  he  could  diminish  the  pride  of  the  goddess  somewhat, 
loo,  so  he  held  her,  imprisoned  in  the  tangles  of  his  thick  locks, 
but  because  of  long  austerities  practiced  by  a  devotee  he  allowed 
one  drop  to  trickle  to  the  earth  and  it  lit  on  the  Himalayas  and 
became  a  mighty  river.  Hence  Shiv  or  Siva  is  always  pictured 
with  a  figure  of  the  goddess  of  the  Ganges  perched  on  his  head! 
The  Jumna  is  a  daughter  of  the  Sun,  and  therefore,  also  a  god- 
dess. 1  he  junction  of  any  two  rivers  is  sacred  in  Hindustan, 
hence  how  very  much  the  more  sacred  is  the  junction  of  two 
such  holy  streams  as  Cangd  and  Yamuna! 

"I  stayed  in  this  monastery  four  months  and  read  the 
Puranas  to  large  audiences,  but  the  real  reason  for  my  residing 
there  was  to  learn  the  ways  and  habits  of  a  temple  of  Vishnu. 
It  was  really  erected  for  the  idols  of  Rama,  Lakshman  and 
Sita,  but,  of  course,  Rama  is  a  Vishnu  incarnation.  In  this 
temple  are  five  hundred  round,  shining  black  stones  called  Sdli- 
grdm,  and  one  of  my  chief  works  was  to  see  that  each  of  the 
three  pujdris  (those  who  perform  the  rites  of  a  temple)  properly 
attended  to  the  worship  of  these  stones.  They  are  considered 
most  sacred  for  they  are  believed  to  possess  the  very  essence  of 
Vishnu.  They  are  always  found  in  temples  erected  to  Vishnu  or 
any  of  his  nine  incarnations.      It  says  in  the  Sat  Nardvan: 

'The  Sdligrdm,  the  sacred  stone, 
It  must  he  fyepl,  an  holy  sign, 
In  hoivl  of  copper,  and  each  morn 
Pour  n>ater  on  its  surface  shine.' 

"We  were  taught  in  our  divinity  college  that  Lakshmi,  the 
wife  of  Vishnu,  dwells  in  the  tulsi  plant.  In  the  worship  of 
the  Sahgram  each  morning  I  had  to  sec  that  two  tulsi  leaves  still 
joined  to  the  same  stem  were  placed  on  each  of  the  sacred  stones. 
I  was  given  such  work  for  I  had  been  thoroughly  taught  the  rites 
and   ceremonies  of   a   temple.      I   omitted   telling  you   that   as   soon 


42  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

as  I  got  back  from  Brindaban  my  father  took  me  to  Ujjain,  that 
ancient  seat  of  Hinduism,  and  there  I  was  examined  in  temple 
service  and  idolatrous  forms." 

Would  you  like  to  know  what  kind  of  questions  the  Hindu 
brother  had  to  answer  when  he  appeared  for  his  degree  of  D.  D.  ? 

"With    what    n  antra    should    a    priest    unlock    the    temple? 

"What  kind  of  clothing  should  he  wear  each  day  of  the 
week? 

"What  is  the  first  work  of  a  priest  on  entering  the  temple 
in  the  morning? 

There  were  a  number  of  questions  on  the  conduct  of 
worship  in  the  fifteen  hours  out  of  each  twenty-four  that  a  priest 
must  spend  in  temple  worship. 

"I  virtually  lived  in  the  temple  with  the  two  hundred  old 
holy  men.  They  liked  to  hear  me,  a  youth,  recite  from  their 
sacred  books.  Probably  most  of  these  ancients  could  read  Hindi 
prose,  but  they  could  neither  read  nor  understand  Sanskrit,  so 
I  read  and  explained  to  them.  1  hey  were  very  old,  with  white 
hair  and  wrinkled  faces;  how  they  listened!  The  more  there 
were  the  more  I  enjoyed  reading  to  them !  When  I  had  finished 
the  daily  reading  I  gave  to  each  of  my  audience  a  tiny  piece  of 
tulsi  leaf,  which  they  ate,  for  if  death  occurs  and  the  gods  find 
the  tulsi  leaf  in  the  mouth  of  the  corpse  the  soul  that  once  lived 
there  is  certain  of  salvation,  and  by  no  mistake  of  any  celestial 
gate-keeper  can  that  spirit  be  sent  off  to  the  under  world. 

"In  the  mornings  and  evenings,  when  the  people  came  to 
worship,  I  had  to  attend  to  the  offerings,  as  sweets,  fruits, 
rupees,  cloth,  sometimes  jewels,  were  given  by  the  people — 
even  little  children  brought  offerings,  an  orange,  a  cocoanut  or 
sweet  meats.  Sometimes  a  girl  would  bring  for  the  image  of 
the  goddess  Sita  a  pair  of  gold  ear-rings  or  a  jeweled  nose-ring. 
"Up   to    this    time    I    had    made    no   pilgrimages,    but    now    it 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  43 

came  into  my  mind  that  I  should  set  out  to  visit  the  places  Rama, 
the  eighth  incarnation  of  Vishnu  had  made  sacred. 

"I  first  took  the  train  for  the  far  southwestward,  in  the  region 
of  Mysore.  I  went  alone,  excepting  for  my  servant,  who  carried 
my  heavy  books.  My  destination,  Kishkindhya,  is  the  mountain 
retreat  where  Rama  tarried  four  months  in  his  wanderings  as  a 
guest  of  Sugriva,  a  monkey-headed  deity  who  sprang  from  a  race 
born  from  a  tear  of  Brahma,  the  Creator.  Kishkindhya  is  the 
place  of  friendship,  because  Sugriva  and  Rama  were  friends 
there,  and  those  who  wish  friends  reconciled  or  enemies  turned 
into  friends  go  there  to  worship  at  the  Shrine  of  Friendship. 
Here  Rama  related  to  Sugriva  the  story  of  his  lost  and  beloved 
wife,  and  found  a  sincere  sympathizer  in  Sugriva,  as  he  had  also 
lost  his  wife  through  treachery.  And  what  was  more,  Sugriva 
showed  to  Rama  the  jewels  of  his  stolen  Sita.  It  seems  when 
Rawan  was  carrying  Sita  off  through  the  air  she  tied  up  her  royal 
jewels  in  one  of  her  silken  garments  and  dropped  them  down  on 
the  mountain  of  Kishkhindya.  Sugriva  found  them  and  knew  they 
belonged  to  a  queen  and  kept  them  intact.  These  were  Rama's 
first  clue  to  the  course  of  the  captors  of  his  wife.  She  had 
dropped  them  there  not  only  for  a  sign  of  the  direction  of  the 
flight,  but  that  her  husband  might  know  she  was  a  true  wife, 
scorning  to  wear  jewels  when  separated  from  her  lord  and 
master.  On  the  spot  where  the  jewels  were  found  Rama  took 
up  his  abode  for  awhile,  and  now  there  is  a  great  temple  there. 

"One  division  of  the  Ramayan  is  called  the  Kishhindya  Part. 
1  here  Sugriva  and  Hanuman  organized  the  great  army  of 
monkeys  which  proceeded  with  Rama  in  search  of  Sita.  Hanu- 
man was  their  General.  Laksfman,  the  loyal  brother  of  the 
Rama  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  I  must  have  told  you  was  an 
incarnation  of  Shesha,  the  serpent  slave  of  the  second  member 
of  the  Hindu  1  riad.  1  le  was  ever  with  Rama  in  his  wander- 
ings.     I  sat  for  some  time  on  this  templed  mountain  top  and  read 


44  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

the  Puranas,  and  especially  the  Ramayan,  to  the  hundreds  of 
pilgrims  who  came  and  then  I  started  for  the  great  shrine  of 
Rameshwar,  stopping  at  various  sacred  places.  It  took  me  al- 
most a  year  to  make  this  pilgrimage.  I  would  stop  at  various 
places  en  route  where  I  had  heard  a  wise  man  lived,  or  where 
the  country  looked  beautiful,  and  often  I  read  the  Puranas  to 
people  in  the  villages  through  which  I  passed.  The  Sanskrit 
language  was  my  passport  to  every  Hindu  town  or  home.  I  here 
were  some  in  every  town,  even  where  a  different  dialect  than 
Hindi  was  spoken,  who  could  understand  Sanskrit  or  High 
Hindi;  they  could  translate  any  of  my  explanations  of  the 
Puranas  which  the  common  people  could  not  understand.  One 
town  or  village  furnished  me  a  guide  to  the  next  place  in  which  I 
planned  to  read  the  Puranas.  I  never  stayed  in  any  inn  or  rest- 
house  ;  my  profession  secured  me  the  best  place  where  all  my 
caste  observances  would  be  held  sacred,  also  the  best  food  and 
gifts.  On  my  sacred  books  would  be  placed  the  offerings,  rings 
and  bracelets,  clothing,  rupees,  food.  The  women's  jewelry  and 
clothing  I  took  to  my  mother  and  sisters-in-law  for,  as  you  know, 
I  was  not  married.  A  number  of  times  my  betrothal  was  talked 
of,  but  I  thank  my  Guide  today  that  I  am  not  bound  to  an  un- 
taught child  wife  with  bigoted  Hindu  parents.  Even  when  I 
wandered  in  the  dense  darkness  of  idolatry  it  was  as  though  a 
Hand  had  reached  down  to  me  through  the  darkness  and  touched 
me.      It  took  the  form  of  doubt  sometimes  with  me. 

"When  I  reached  the  great,  beautiful  temple  of  Rameshwar, 
said  to  have  been  built  by  Rama  himself,  I  found  the  temple  rites 
perfectly  performed.  It  was  a  delight  to  my  studious  mind,  but  in 
that  sacred  enclosure  and  holy  town  I  found  lying,  thieving,  deceit, 
and  I  asked:  'Can  this  be  an  holy  place  where  Vishnu  dwells  and 
these  acts  be  tolerated?'  I  hungered  so  for  knowledge,  knowl- 
edge, that  I  was  kept  from  many  temptations.  I  was  truly  a 
pilgrim  in  search  of  wisdom.      I  used  my  Puranas  as  guide  books 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  45 

and  examined  everything  to  see  if  all  was  according  to  rules  laid 
down  there. 

"The  temple  of  Rameshwar  is  probably  the  largest  temple  in 
all  India.  I  have  visited  all  the  great  temples  in  my  country, 
but  never  one  so  large  in  extent  as  Rameshwar.  Its  court,  sur- 
rounded by  high  walls,  is  a  thousand  feet  long  and  almost  seven 
hundred  feet  wide ;  its  gateway  is  one  hundred  feet  high.  Its 
colonnades  are  wonderful,  and  with  other  pilgrims  I  remained  in- 
side of  this  enclosure  eleven  days.  I  his  temple  is  on  an  island 
very  near  the  Indian  coast  and  between  Ceylon  and  India.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  built  by  Rama  himself  to  establish  the  worship 
of  the  gods  on  a  wild  coast  that  he  might  be  remembered  to 
India's  southern  extremity.  He  sent  Hanuman  to  Benares  to 
bring  the  emblem  of  Shiva  to  establish  that  worship  in  the  great 
temple.  I  he  days  went  by  and  Hanuman  was  slow  in  returning 
with  the  idol.  The  day  appointed  for  the  dedication  of  the  temple 
arrived  and  there  was  yet  no  symbol,  so  Rama  made  with  his 
own  hands  an  idol  of  sand  and  the  great  dedication  went  on. 
When  the  people  were  returning  they  met  Hanuman  with  the 
symbol  of  Shiva,  and  then  the  great  monkey  knew  he  was  late. 
He  found  on  his  hasty  arrival  the  sand  idol  established  by  Rama, 
and,  filled  with  pride,  he  determined  to  uproot  it  with  his  tail, 
when,  behold,  he  could  not,  and  to  this  day  the  mark  of  the 
three  rounds  of  Hanuman's  tail  are  on  a  sandstone  symbol  of 
Shiva  in  the  Great  lemple!  I  here  is  also  the  marble  idol  irom 
Benares.  I  here  are  twenty-five  or  thirty  priests  in  the  temple. 
I  hey  dress  each  day  the  shapeless  image,  put  on  a  jeweled  crown 
and  the  three  horizontal  barred  sign  of  Shiva  beneath  the  crown. 
How  this  crown  sparkles  with  the  very  heart  of  diamonds!  1  he 
temple  has  seven  gates  and  only  from  afar  may  the  pilgrims  see  the 
gleam  of  the  jewels  on  the  shapeless  stone  symbol  of  Shiva,  the 
Destroyer.  I  was  privileged  and  could  take  my  offering  up  to 
the  idol  ior   I  had  brought   Irom  my   lather's  house  a  small  brass 


46  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

jar  of  water  from  the  very  source  of  the  Ganges  to  offer  here. 
We   had   purchased   it    for   this   purpose    from    a   pilgrim    priest. 

"When  I  was  a  priest  of  Vishnu,  in  Mahoba,  the  head  man 
you  know  so  well  sent  to  the  source  of  the  Ganges  for  a  copper  jar 
of  water  which  weighed  ten  pounds  and  it  cost  him  four  hundred 
rupees  ($135).  The  main  offering  at  Rameshwar  is  Ganges 
water  poured  over  the  idol,  and  from  the  source  of  the  Ganges 
the  water  is  supposed  to  be  peculiarly  acceptable  to  the  god. 
Such  as  I  could  go  in  and  pour  the  water  over  the  idol,  but  others, 
not  learned  in  proper  rites  and  ceremonies,  even  if  they  were 
Brahmans,  were  not  allowed  inside  the  temple.  They  gave  their 
Ganges  water  to  a  priestly  guide,  who,  before  their  eyes,  offered 
it  upon  the  idol.  I  noticed  the  priests  would  often  accept  money 
and  allow  pilgrims  to  enter  who  had  no  right  according  to  our 
Shastras  to  do  so.  When  I  saw  this  I  felt  the  Hindu  religion 
was  being  destroyed.  Even  fear  of  vengeance  could  not  keep  the 
devotees  from  sin. 

"I  had  learned  the  rites  and  was  allowed  within.  As  I 
poured  the  water  of  the  Ganges  over  the  idol  I  said  this 
mantra: 

'Had,  Shiv,  Most  Gracious,  Only  One, 
Thou  who  dost  Wear  the  serpent  garland 
I  wining  'bout  thy  necf(. .  .  '77s  thee  I  hail, 
Thou,    whose   power   is   endless,    with    thy   queen 
Dost  sit  upon  thy  throne  above!' 

"When  I  had  done  this  I  felt  the  purpose  of  my  long  journey 
to  Rameshwar  was  complete,  and  I  could  turn  my  face  north- 
ward again  toward  Dwarka.  This  city  I  believed  to  have  been 
founded  at  the  command  of  Vishnu,  and  built  by  the  sculptor 
and  architect  of  the  gods — Visvakarma.  It  was  the  son  of  this 
celestial  architect  who  built  the  bridge  for  Rama  and  the  army  of 
monkeys  to  cross  over  from  India  to  Ceylon. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  47 

"I  went  by  steamship  from  Bombay  to  Dwarka.  Dwarka 
means  'Door,'  and  it  is  like  a  gate  in  the  ocean.  It  is  situated 
on  an  island  on  the  western  coast.  Its  high  walls  rise  like  cliffs 
in  the  bay.  I  went  by  steamer  from  Bombay.  The  island  is  very 
near  the  mainland."  It  is  really  a  narrow  necked  peninsula. 
"As  the  steamer  approaches"  ("fireboat,"  the  narrator  says), 
"the  sacred  island  refuge  of  Krishna  appears  gay  with  hundreds 
of  fluttering  banners!" 

I  could  not  but  think,  when  Raghuwar  described  to  me  his 
first  view  of  Dwarka,  that  the  Hindus  do,  indeed,  in  the  name 
of  their  gods,  "set  up  their  banners."  I  seemed  to  see  it  all,  the 
streaming  banners  against  a  western  sky,  ethereal  in  their  remote- 
ness and  with  their  foundations  almost  invisible!  The  scene 
evidently  impressed  him  for  he  lingered  in  his  description. 

"As  we  approached  nearer  the  towers  of  many  temples  ap- 
peared, and  then  the  walls  of  the  city  rose  sheer  from  the  blue- 
green  of  the  sea.  I  believed  that  long  ago  the  Krishna  incarnation 
of  Vishnu  raised  these  walls  guarded  by  the  salt  waters  of  the 
western  sea  and  prepared  here  a  city  for  the  Yadavas  driven  from 
Krishna's  own  city  of  Mathura.  It  was  this  way.  Krishna,  see- 
ing that  the  inhabitants  of  Mathura  were  becoming  reduced,  re- 
solved to  build  a  citadel  so  strong  that  it  might  be  defended  even  by 
women!  1  his  was  the  order  he  gave  to  the  architect  of  the  gods: 
'Go  build  a  city  in  the  midst  of  the  sea  in  which  my  people  may 
live  in  peace,  unconscious  of  living  in  other  than  their  own  houses 
in  Mathura.     Convey  them  there  in  a  second!' 

"Vishwakarma  departed  and  built,  in  a  single  night,  on  the 
discus  of  Vishnu,  a  city  said  to  be  ninety-six  miles  in  extent.  I 
did  not  measure  it,  but  it  is  a  great,  fortified,  many  towered 
city!  By  the  next  morning  the  inhabitants  of  Mathura  were  all 
transported  there  in  their  sleep,  and  they  awoke  with  the  un- 
accustomed sound  of  the  sea  in  their  ears!  ITey  asked:  '1  la- 
the sea   come   to      Mathura?'      Krishna   remained   behind   to   meet 


48  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

his  foes  alone,  and,  of  course,  was  victorious !  I  looked  with 
intense  interest  on  this  city.  Surely  here  stores  of  knowledge 
awaited!  I  did  not  find  such  beautiful  temples  there  as  in  some 
other  places,  namely,  Brindaban  and  Ayodya.  Silver  and  brass 
gleam  amidst  the  marble  and  stone  of  the  temples,  but,  generally 
speaking,  I  did  not  care  for  this  shrine.  I  saw  the  Vedas  violated 
there  and  avarice  spoiled  the  worship.  I  felt  like  giving  up 
pilgrimages.  When  pilgrims  are  at  Dwarka  they  make  such 
promises  as  this:  'I  will  not  eat  fruit  or  vegetables  until  I  can 
feast  the  Brahmans  of  my  native  town.'  But  such  vows  as  giving 
up  sinful  deeds,  lying,  cheating,  giving  abuse,  these  were  not 
made.  I  have  asked  many  pilgrims  what  benefits  they  had  re- 
ceived from  their  pilgrimages,  and  they  would  reply,  simply:  7 
have  seen.' 

"Early  in  my  pilgrim  life  I  grew  cold.  Neither  mind 
nor  heart  were  satisfied.  Empty-hearted  and  empty-handed  was 
the  condition  of  most  of  the  seekers  after  God  when  they  left  the 
ancient  shrines  of  our  people.  However,  I  went  on.  I  think  I 
have  visited  every  one  of  the  great  places  of  pilgrimage  of  our 
idolatrous  land.  I  here  is  a  country  through  which  I  passed  on 
my  way  back  to  Central  India  for  which  I  have  a  great  hope, 
the  Stale  of  Kdthiaivdr.  I  want  to  reveal  my  vision  to  you  later, 
but  now,  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  I  trudge  on,  this  time 
to  Badnnath  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  Abode  of  Snow  (Himalayas). 
Badnnath,  Jagannath  (Juggernaut),  Rameshwar,  Dwarka. 
I  hese  are  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  Badnnath  guards  on  the 
north;  Jagannath  on  the  east;  Rameshwar  on  the  south;  Dwarka 
on  the  west.  The  king  of  all  shrines  is  Prayag  or  Allahabad. 
1  his  latter  is  the  Mohammedan  name  which  the  Hindus  do  not 
accept.  In  Ajmere  is  Pushkar,  the  Guru  (Religious  Master)  cf 
all  sacred  places.  I  left  none  unvisited.  I  hree  hundred  miles  I 
toiled  over  hill  and  mountain  to  Badnnath  in  the  far  fastnesses  of 
the   Himalayas.      Stony,   narrow,   difhcult   indeed  is  the  way.   but 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  49 

I,  a  Hindu  pandit,  with  the  magic  of  Sanskrit  on  the  tip  of  my 
tongue,  how  much  better  my  condition  than  that  of  ordinary 
pilgrims !  All  along  the  way  are  caves,  and  in  these  dwell  the 
mahdtmds  of  the  Hindus,  that  is,  as  you  know,  the  great  spirits; 
there  are  three  classes  of  them — the  young  men  who  are  students 
of  the  Vedas,  passing  through  the  same  stage  as  was  I  myself, 
the  Brahmacharya;  then  there  is  a  class  of  householders  who  are 
also  mahdtmds,  in  a  way  the  husband  is  under  the  dominion  of 
his  wife  for  twelve  years,  if  he  wishes  during  that  time  to  repair 
to  a  strictly  religious  life  she  has  the  choice  of  remaining  with 
their  children  or  going  about  with  him  in  a  wandering  or  secluded 
life  of  devotion  as  he  chooses;  the  third  class  are  the  Sanydsis, 
old  men  who  are  liberated  from  all  ties  of  the  flesh.  They  have 
passed  through  the  student  and  householder  stages,  now  they 
may  go  where  they  will.  They  get  so  holy  sometimes  that  they 
walk  straight  into  wells.  They  don't  know  what  they  are  eating 
when  their  disciples  feed  them.  They  are  simply  oblivious.  They 
carry  about  with  them  a  bamboo  rod  on  which  they  hang  their 
Brahminical  cord.  All  others  wear  theirs  sacredly,  but  at  the  San- 
yasi  stage  they  take  off  this  cord  and  hang  it  on  their  walking  stick 
and  thus  say:  'All  life  lives  in  my  heart  and  my  life  lives  in  all 
hearts.' 

Just  here  Raghuwar  brought  his  clenched  fist  down 
on  the  table  and  said  in  a  tense  way:  "What  donkeys  we 
Hindus  have  made  ourselves!  We  haven't  the  sense  of  mules!" 
"Why  do  you  speak  so,  brother?"  I  questioned.  "Listen,"  he 
replied,  "the  Sanyasi  says  all  life  is  the  same  to  me,  caste  is 
abolished,  I  know  it  no  more;  he  can  say  this  by  taking  off  his 
sacred  cord,  he  can  rep"at  this  famous  sloka  from  the  BhaSavat 
Gild: 

'The  man  ivho  sees  all  life  alike   (equal). 

And  the  soul  thai  dwells  in  all, 

U  ho  l-noirs  the  World-Soul  in  his  flesh, 

His    rvisdoni    cannot   fall!' 


50  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

"For  hundreds  of  years  such  words  have  been  written  in  our 
sacred  books,  but  the  Hindu  goes  on  with  his  garments  drawn 
tightly  about  him  lest  he  touch  an  outcaste  or  even  a  lower  caste 
than  himself;  he  sits  apart  with  the  key  of  knowledge  in  his 
hand,  neither  unlocking  the  door  nor  allowing  others  to  enter; 
they  proudly  assert  themselves  Sanskrit  scholars,  and  yet  each 
day  they  go  against  their  slofys. 

"See  here,"  and  Raghuwar  hastily  arose,  flew  to  our  drawing- 
room  table  and  brought  my  Hindi  Bible.  In  a  moment  he  had 
found  his  place  and  read  with  great  force  Christ's  invective 
against  the  Pharisees  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Luke.  "Here  it 
is  written  down,  just  the  state  of  affairs  today!" 

I  looked  at  his  keen,  eager  face  and  thought:  Eight 
months  ago  he  took  for  the  first  time  a  small  Hindi  copy 
of  the  Gospel,  according  to  Matthew,  and  stole  away  to  the 
inner  shrine  of  an  idol  temple  to  read  it,  and  now  with  what  ease 
he  finds  the  exact  passage  he  wishes!  "May  we  write  'Brahmin' 
in  place  of  Pharisee?"  I  asked.  "Certainly"  he  replied.  "And 
may  we  not  ourselves  fall  into  a  sinful  pride?"  "Yes,  indeed," 
he  answered,  "not  long  ago  I  went  to  prayer  meeting  late  when 
it  was  my  work  to  arrange  the  chairs  and  benches  and  distribute 
the  singing  books.  As  I  sat  there  the  Sahib  (Mr.  Gordon) 
began  speaking.  He  said  something  in  a  warning,  admonitory 
way  that  I  felt  was  said  directly  to  me.  Of  course,  I  suppose 
he  was  speaking  to  the  whole  church,  hut  I  felt  he  Was  speaking 
to  me.  I  thought,  I  shall  never  be  late  again.  What,  shall  I  let 
a  Hindu  think  God's  work  comes  second  with  me  now?  Never, 
never!" 

"Your  experience  is  not  unique,"  I  said,  smiling,  "others 
have  felt  that  the  preacher  meant  'mc' !  Shall  we  go  back  to 
the  heart  of  the  Himalayas  and  the  Mahatmas?" 

I  lien  Raguwar  went  on:  "I  always  had  free  entrance  to 
these  caves  of  the  Great  Spirits,   for  could   I   not  repeat  Sanskrit. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  51 

the  certain  passage  to  such  an  abode?  I  stood  before  the  open- 
ing of  a  cave  dwelling  and  this  was  the  usual  dialogue  in 
Sanskrit: 

'Pilgrim — Oh,  Brahman,  who  abides  in  this  place?  Of  the 
three  grades  of  great  spirits  which  one  finds  rest  here? 

'Mahdtmd  (from  within) — A  sanyasi  lives  here.  O,  friend, 
from  whither  are  you  journeying? 

'Pilgrim — From  one  of  the  four  corners  of  the  earth." 

Here  Raghuwar  stops  to  make  an  explanation  which  would 
have  delighted  our  Prof.  Peckham  of  Hiram  College.  "By  the 
change  of  a  final  letter,  a  prolongation  even  of  its  pronunciation, 
in  one  word  I  could  let  him  know  if  I  was  a  pilgrim  having  visited 
one  or  two  or  many  great  shrines. 

'Pilgrim — I  have  come  seeking  a  boon. 

'Mahdtmd — What  boon,  O,  Pilgrim? 

'Pilgrim — To  discuss  with  you  some  question  of  our  sacred 
writings. 

'Mahdtmd — Enter. 

"  1  hen  many  questions  were  asked  me  and  I  was  always 
made  most  welcome  when  they  found  I  could  repeat  slok 
after  slol(  and  expound  the  Vedas.  I  was  fed  with  roast  roots 
from  the  mountain  side.  I  hey  tasted  like  rice  and  milk.  When  it 
grew  cold  fires  were  built  in  the  cave.  Roots  of  different  kinds  in 
whose  lore  the  Great  Spirits  were  wise,  were  roasted  in  the  ashes 
and  we  ate  freely  and  abundantly.  I  recited  to  them  by  the 
glow  of  their  fires,  and  they  would  beseech  me  to  remain  with 
them.  I  would  stay  sometimes  eight  days  in  one  cave  dwelling. 
I  need  take  no  tl  ought  of  time.  It  took  me  eight  months  to  go 
three  hundred  miles  and  return. 

"I  shall  not  forget  my  first  sight  of  the  great  temple 
of  Badrfnath,  made  from  the  granite  of  the  mountains,  un- 
carven  by  man,  as  the  temples  of  the  plains  are,  and 
looking     small,     indeed,     in     its     setting     of     loftiest     mountains 


52  RAG HU WAR  DAYAL, 

There  are  a  few  shops  where  food  stuffs  are  sold,  grains  which 
have  been  brought  on  the  backs  of  goats  clear  from  Hardwar, 
very  expensive  food,  too,  I  assure  you.  The  pilgrims  live  mostly 
under  the  shelter  of  some  thatch.  Oh,  it  is  cold  in  the  nights! 
I  was  privileged  as  I  could  find  a  shelter  with  some  holy  men  in 
the  warmth  of  a  cave.  This  is  a  shrine  of  Vishnu.  It  is  said  that 
the  idol  of  Badrinath  was,  in  the  old  days,  made  from  the 
philosopher's  stone  which  changed  iron  to  gold,  but  it  is  made  of 
white  marble  in  these  days,  and  who  knows  if  it  were  ever  made 
from  the  paras  stone?  There  is  so  much  that  is  confusing  in 
heathen  tales!''  Raghuwar  sighs  as  he  turns  to  his  Bible,  which 
he  studies  as  I  write. 

"I  did  not  tarry  long,  but  set  out  for  Kedarnath,  the 
Shrine  of  Shesh,  the  Serpent  Companion  of  Vishnu.  As 
I  was  traveling  from  Badrinath  to  Kedarnath  I  passed 
boiling  hot  springs.  They  were  wonderful  to  me  and  I  had 
no  explanation  for  them,  but  I  was  told  that  the  power  of  the 
mahdlmds  had  made  them  so.  Kedarnath  is  famous  for  its  tune, 
at  the  singing  of  which  the  strings  of  the  necklace  of  the  gods 
break.  I  did  not  see  any  of  them  break  at  Kedarnath  when 
the  tune  was  sung  in  the  temple  however !  These  words  are 
sung  to  it: 

'Oh,  Gangd,*  your  waves  beat  in  mVi  heart!' 
"I  tarried  here  but  a  short  time  for  the  sacred  source  of  the 
Ganges    lay    beyond.       The   place   is   called    Gangotri.       From    a 
distance    the    mountain    from    whose    hidden    springs    the    Ganges 
begins  to  run,   at  least  to  our   Hindu  imagination,   is  shaped  like 
the  head  of  a  great  cow,  the  most  sacred  animal  of  all  to  millions 
of  our  people.      You  know  the  Ganges  is  believed   to  be  in   her 
earthly  form,  the  daughter  of  the  Lord  of  the  Himalayas: 
'Caned,  whose  waves  in  heaven  flow. 
Is  daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Snow.' 
^Ganges. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  53 

"I  hastened  to  fill  my  brass  jug  with  water  from  that  sacred 
source  and  carefully  screwed  in  the  brass  stopper.  This  was  for 
a  special  purpose,  to  pour  out  a  libation  to  Shiv,  the  Great  God: 

'  J  he  man  who  pours  from  Ganges'  source, 
/is  sacred  waters  stream 
Upon   Rdmeshwar's   idol  far, 
Where  Ceylon  s   tides   bright  gleam. 
He  shall  the  last  salvation  find, 
7  o  Cod's  own  inner  self  consigned.' 

"That  is,  the  man  who  offers  this  libation  shall  be  absorbed 
into  the  Deity.  I  looked  over  the  long  way  back  to  Rameshwar 
and  decided  to  carry  my  brass  jar  of  water  from  Ganga's  source 
to  that  little  image  on  India's  southern  point,  for  what  is  more 
important  than  the  making  sure  of  salvation?  I  was  young  and 
strong,  devoted  to  my  religious  books,  preparing  to  be  a  priest  of 
Vishnu.  While  I  had  been  disappointed,  yet  I  hoped  it  at  least 
could  do  no  harm.  I  thought  to  try  every  means  laid  down  in 
my  books  to  gain  the  final  goal  of  extinction  in  the  personality  of 
God.  I  bathed  in  the  sacred  waters  and  then  I  began  my  long 
descent  of  the  mountains,  tarrying  with  the  cave  dwelling  n  a- 
hcitmds. 

I  went  along  with  pilgrims  when  they  were  wise  and 
patient,  but  if  they  said:  'Brother,  we  must  reach  a  certain 
place  today,'  I  told  them  it  was  not  my  habit  to  travel  in  that 
way,  that  I  went  as  I  pleased,  with  no  certain  route  that  could  not 
be  changed,  and  urged  them  to  go  on  and  leave  me.  I  walked 
hack  to  Hardwar,  that  is,  '  1  iie  Door  of  Han  or  Krishna.'  '  I 
remember  seeing  that  place  of  pilgrimage  and  the  pilgrims  bathing 
in  the  Ganges  there.       1  his  is  its  story  as  Raghuwar  told  me: 

"It  is  said  that  when  Shiv  reached  Hardwar,  bearing  the 
goddess  of  the  Ganges  in  his  long  locks,  he  wrung  them  out  on 
mat   spot   and   straightway   the   river   began   a   broader   flow.      Al- 


54  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

ready  the  Ganges  had  begun  her  course  toward  the  underworld  to 
bring  to  life  the  sixty  thousand  sons  of  King  Sagar,  and  another 
stream  had  gone  to  gladden  and  refresh  the  immortals,  and  now  a 
grandson  of  King  Sagar  wished  a  blessing  for  the  earth  as  well. 
Through  his  endless  austerities  he  won  the  favor  of  the  goddess, 
and  she  told  him  to  hitch  to  his  chariot  the  swiftest  pair  of  horses 
in  the  Universe!  Bhagirath  knew  that  Indra's  chariot  wheels 
cause  the  thunder,  while  the  gleam  of  his  sword  is  the  lightning's 
flash,  and  that  his  swift  horses  know  the  mind  of  their  master 
and  go  whither  he  silently  wills.  He  besought  from  Indra  one 
of  his  shining  white  steeds,  which  was  granted,  while  the  Sun-God 
furnished  the  second  of  the  pair,  a  pure  white  horse  with  black 
ears.  They  were  so  swift  that  they  could,  if  necessary,  make 
the  circuit  of  the  earth  seven  times  in  a  day !  When  Bhagirath 
mounted  the  chariot  Ganga  followed  whither  he  drove  clear  to 
the  sea !  So  three  worlds  were  blest  by  her  who  is  the  water 
in  which  the  sacred  feet  of  Vishnu  have  been  bathed !  In  my 
journeyings  I  stopped  at  Bharatpur,  near  Agra,  because  I 
remembered  when  I  was  a  student  in  Agra  I  used  to  go  to 
the  forest  near  Bharatpur  where  lived  a  company  of  pandits  and 
holy  men.  There  again  I  sought  for  knowledge.  I  have  not 
told  you  the  exact  order  of  my  pilgrimages,  but  I  know  you  will 
want  to  hear  of  my  trip  to  Jagannath  over  in  Orissa,  on  the 
eastern  coast,  one  of  the  Four  Corners  of  the  Earth.'' 

Just  here  I  feel  I  must  pause  in  Raghuwar's  story  to  tell  you 
that  in  my  present  hurried  condition,  preparing  to  leave  India,  I 
cannot  calmly  sift  and  write  down  everything  he  says.  I  can- 
not tell  you  how  many  times  during  the  writing  of  the  one 
hundred  and  one  pages  of  manuscript  I  have  thus  far 
inscribed  I  have  had  to  stop  to  talk  with  or  listen  to 
him  as  he  asked  me  questions  about  ordinary  yet  great 
world  subjects,  or  those  things  that  touch  the  springs  of  life 
and  religion,  or  to  tell  me  his  dreams,  sometimes  very  remote  from 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  55 

the  subject  just  then  in  hand.  For  instance,  while  telling  me  of 
the  hermit-like  religious  men  in  the  forest  of  Bharatpur,  he  ran 
off  into  an  enthusiastic  dissertation  on  his  hope  of  learning  Eng- 
lish just  so  he  could  read  all  great  books  and  learn  what  men  who 
have  known  Him,  say  of  Jesus.  Then  he  spoke  very  plainly  of 
his  surprise  that  in  the  East  so  little  has  been  done  to  fulfill  Christ's 
command,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world."  "Why  is  it?  Why  is  it?" 
he  asks  so  frequently.  I  tell  him  the  reason  good  men  and  wo- 
men give.  "But  then,"  he  says,  "is  it  not  the  work  given  to  all 
Christians?  What  greater  work  has  been  given  to  them?  It 
is  also  a  work,  in  a  way,  self  propagating."  Someway  here  he 
talked  of  the  recent  murders  of  English  people  in  England  by 
Indians.  He  said:  "They  were  not  prepared  by  Christians  to 
live  in  a  Christian  land,"  that  is,  the  Indians  were  unprepared  for 
English  life. 

However,  we  are  back  on  a  journey  to  Jagannath  now, 
and  Raghuwar  says:  "When  we  reached  the  temple  of  the 
Blue  Wheel,  six  miles  from  Jagannath,  there  is  a  test  that  will 
seem  strange  to  you.  The  pilgrim  who  can  see  from  the  Nilchakra 
(Blue  Wheel)  Temple  the  dome  of  the  temple  of  Jagannath,  that 
pilgrim  will  be  able  to  see  the  gods  there  and  receive  a  benefit, 
but  the  eyes  of  some  are  believed  to  be  holden !  Of  course,  I 
know  now  that  in  such  cases  defective  eyesight  is  the  reasonable 
cause  of  the  withholden  vision. 

"From  the  Nil  Chakra  temple  on  to  Jagannath,  caste  is 
abolished.  All,  from  the  despised  worker  in  leather  to  the  Brah- 
min, may  sit  there  and  eat  together.  In  not  one  other  place  in  all 
India  may  this  occur  without  loss  of  caste  for  him  of  the  so-called 
higher  birth.  1  he  pictures  and  shrines  of  Jagannath  always 
represent  him  accompanied  by  his  brother  Balarama  and  his 
sister,  Subhadra,  for  remember  that  Jagannath  is  generally 
believed  an  incarnation  of  Krishna,  therefore,  also  of  Vishnu. 
The  color  of  Vishnu  is  blue   (though  red  is  sacred  to  him),  but 


56  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

Krishna's  color  changed  to  black  once  when  a  serpent  hissed  at 
him,  and  so  Jagannath  is  black  instead  of  blue!  Balarama  was 
the  incarnation  of  Shesha,  the  serpent  companion  of  Vishnu,  and 
Subhadra  of  Lakshmi,  Vishnu's  wife.  There  are  different  stories 
about  this  deformed,  black,  wooden  idol  called  'The  Lord  of  the 
Earth.'  I  will  tell  you  the  version  I  believed.  Krishna  realized 
that  he  had  done  deeds  with  his  hands  which  are  not  lawful  for 
men  so  he  decided  to  cut  off  those  hands  and  sit  always  as  a 
mutilated  figure." 

I  thought  as  Raghuwar  related  this  version  that  Krishna 
certainly  made  an  "awful  warning"  of  himself!  The 
story  I  have  heard  is  that  a  king  called  down  the  Architect 
of  the  Gods  (Viswakarma)  to  make  an  idol  for  a  temple  he  had 
built  at  Puri.  This  idol  was  to  be  the  receptacle  of  the  bones 
of  Krishna.  The  divine  architect  said  he  would  make  the  idol 
on  the  condition  that  no  one  looked  at  it  until  it  was  finished, 
but  the  king  could  not  restrain  his  curiosity  and  he  looked  in  on 
the  workman  too  soon  and  Viswakarma  disappeared  leaving  an 
ugly,  shapeless  figure  which  Brahma,  the  Creator,  afterwards  gave 
eyes. 

Raghuwar  continued:  "When  I  reached  the  temple  en- 
closure and  entered,  a  gate-keeper  struck  me  lightly  with  a  cane. 
This  he  did  with  each,  otherwise  the  thronging  press  of  pilgrims 
through  the  gates  would  result  in  constant  disasters.  It  was  not 
the  time  of  the  great  festival  when  Jagannath  is  drawn  in  a 
chariot  to  the  sea  shore.  This  occurs  once  a  year.  I  have  never 
been  there  at  this  great  festival  time;  thousands  on  thousands  of 
pilgrims  go  there  and  they  are  mad  with  anxiety  to  help  draw  the 
chariot,  believing  to  do  so  is,  as  we  say,  'the  root  of  Joy' !  1  here 
were  multitudes  of  pilgrims  at  Jagannath,  though,  when  I  was 
there.  I  could  not  like  it  in  the  crowd  as  I  did  wandering  amidst 
the  cave-dwelling  hermits  of  God's  mountains.  That  was  a  clean 
road,  washed  bv  God's  rain  and  snow  and  wild  winds.      No  one 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  57 

may  cook  his  own  food  at  Pun',  all  pilgrims  must  eat  food  cooked 
within  the  temple  enclosure  and  sold  in  the  bazar.  Jagannath 
did  not  greatly  appeal  to  me.  I  bathed  in  the  sea  there.  I  bought 
my  souvenirs  which  every  pilgrim  to  this  shrine  buys,  namely,  a 
picture  of  the  deities,  costing  from  one  to  ten  cents,  and  a  light 
cane  which  is  sold  in  the  temple  veranda  for  one  cent.  These  are 
carried  home  to  be  worshipped  in  the  family  circle.  As  I  have 
said  before  we  must  buy  our  rice  already  cooked,  and  pilgrims 
often  dry  a  part  to  carry  back  for  distribution  among  friends  and 
relatives. 

"I  did  not  stay  long  in  Jagannath,  but  went  on  to  Calcutta 
to  worship  Mother  Ganges  where  she  meets  the  Lord  of  Rivers, 
the  great  salt  sea !  Kapila  is  the  deity  worshipped  at  Ganga's 
Sea.  He  is  an  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  taken  one  time  in  order 
to  save  one  of  his  wives,  the  Earth,  from  destruction.  This 
sphere  was  being  sadly  mutilated  by  the  sons  of  King  Sagar 
digging  to  find  one  of  the  horses  of  Indra  stabled  in  the  lower 
regions!  Kapila  stopped  the  work  of  destruction."  The  whole 
story  is  too  long  to  write.  Raghuwar  sat  down  on  the  floor  and 
acted  it  all  out  as  well  as  he  could  with  the  stage  scenery  at  his 
command!  I  wish  there  were  time  to  describe  this  private  re- 
hearsal to  you  in  detail.  He  made  quite  graphic  the  giant  ex- 
cavations, the  appearance  of  Vishnu  incarnate  and  all  this  myth- 
ological drama  of  the  wonderful  ancient  Hindus! 

In  his  recital  up  to  this  point  Raghuwar  had  not  told  of  his 
visit  to  Ayodhya,  the  but!  place  ol  Ins  favorite  incarnation,  Rarn- 
chandra  or  Rama,  so  I  asked  him  to  tell  me  about  this  celebrated 
place  of  pilgrimage,  and  this  is  what  he  said: 

"  1  here  are  several  celebrated  spots  in  Ayodhya.  I  here  is 
first  the  1  lgh  place  where  the  Monkey-God,  Hanuman,  was  es- 
tablished Master  of  Ayodhya.  I  le  had  been  such  a  faithful 
ally  of  Rd:na's  that,  in  gratitude  for  the  Monkeys  services, 
Rama  said:  'As  long  as  the  Sun  and  Moon  shine  or  Ganga  flows 


58  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

on  the  Earth  you  shall  reign  in  the  place  of  my  birth,  Ayodya.' 
Beside  this  high  place  there  is  the  Golden  Palace  (though  the 
gold  is  not  there  now)  and  the  Jewel  Throne  (though  the  jewels 
also  are  gone)  and  the  temple  at  the  place  where  Rama  was  born. 

"My  long  pilgrimages  were  over  at  last.  I  must  say  that 
perhaps  I  did  not  make  this  round  as  most  pilgrims  do,  or  rather, 
with  the  same  purposes.  I  hated  ignorance  on  any  question ; 
I  went  with  a  burning  desire  for  religious  knowledge.  When  I 
reached  a  sacred  shrine  if  I  found  no  learned  pandit  who  could 
explain  to  me  the  Vedas  or  some  difficult  slol(  of  our  holy  books, 
I  was  dissatisfied.  I  was  a  questioner,  and,  for  the  most  part,  a 
doubter.  Some  go  ready  to  believe  anything,  accepting  every 
tale,  but  I  wished  to  investigate,  to  know  for  myself.  Ah,  I  can- 
not think  of  those  days  of  wandering,  seeking  for  knowledge, 
without  deep  sadness  that  I  lost  very  much  of  the  time  of  my 
youth!  The  one  thing  that  comforts  me  is  that  perhaps,  through 
them,  I  was  being  prepared  to  work  amongst  my  own  wandering 
people.  /  know  the  Way  over  which  they  are  stumbling  unsatis- 
fied. 

"I  went  back  to  my  old  place  in  Allahabad  at  the  temple 
by  the  Ganges  and  remained  there  eight  months.  In  my  favorite 
Purdna,  the  Bhagavat,  from  which  I  was  never  parted,  I  had 
read  that  in  the  most  illustrious  Age  of  Treta,  or  the  Era  of  the 
Three  Incarnations,  the  event  I  will  relate  occurred: 

"The  Mountains  of  the  Dawn  must  first  be  conquered  by  the 
Sun,  and  in  those  long-ago  days  when  his  splendor  arose  from 
behind  the  Morning  Hills,  there  yet  loomed  beyond  far  higher, 
far  more  precipitous,  the  Vindhya  range.  So  great  was  the 
height  of  this  mountain  wall  that  the  Sun's  beams  were 
so  long  in  scaling  it  that  the  people  on  the  other  side 
were  late  with  the  morning  Sun-worship.  Then  were  the  immor- 
tals in  great  pain  and  unrest,  for  until  the  Brahmins  of  earth  have 
performed  the  morning  worship  of  the  Sun,  the  gods  remain  thirst- 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  59 

ing  for  the  water  poured  out  from  thousands  of  argas  (the  copper 
ladle  used  in  oblations  to  the  sun)  quenching  the  thirst  of  the 
shining  ones.  Thus  the  gods  fainted  with  longing  each  day  until 
the  Sun  had  conquered  the  stupendous  heights  of  the  Vindhyas. 
Now  these  mountains  were  the  disciples  of  Agastya  Muni,  so 
the  gods  made  this  petition  of  the  lord  of  the  heights:  'Oh,  Great 
King,  thy  disciples  give  us  great  trouble,  for  so  long  as  the  Sun 
remains  in  their  shadow  the  priests  do  not  pour  out  oblations 
which  satisfy  our  thirst.'  Upon  hearing  this,  Agastya  Muni  went 
to  his  pupils,  and,  as  proper  disciples  must  ever  do,  they  pros- 
trated themselves  before  their  master,  who,  as  he  stretched  out 
his  hand  in  blessing,  said:  'Thus  remain,  O  sons!'  To  this  day, 
then,  these  heights  are  bowed  down ! 

"Amongst  the  famous  hills  of  the  Vindhyas,  I  read  of  one 
shaped  like  a  cow's  head,  and  therefore  most  sacred.  On  inquiry  I 
found  it  to  be  near  a  place  called  Mahoba!  I  felt  I  must  see  it  in 
order  to  verify  my  favorite  purana.  Being  so  near  Allahabad,  I 
was  soon  in  this  little  town,  where  I  was  to  indeed  see  ike  Sun 
arise!  I  looked  with  interest  at  the  hills  of  fantastic  shape  by  which 
the  train  flew.  I  recalled  the  Ramayan  and  remembered  that  Han- 
uman  and  the  Vanar  chiefs  and  allies,  carried  great  mountains  to 
help  Rama  build  a  bridge  from  India  to  Ceylon,  and  when  the 
work  was  finished  the  monkey  hosts  were  still  flying  through  the  air 
carrying  mountains  southward.  When  they  received  word  that  the 
bridge  was  built  they  dropped  their  burdens  wherever  they  hap- 
pened to  be,  for  they  were  no  longer  needed!  A  lot  of  hills  fell 
down  in  Central  India,  and  they  are  the  Vindhyas,  who  obey 
the  mandate  of  their  master,  Agastya  Muni,  to  this  day! 

"When  I  reached  the  town  I  was  at  once  directed  to  the  well- 
known  head  man  of  the  town.  You  all  know  him,  I  need  not  tell 
you  of  his  riches  nor  of  his  power  here.  In  the  surrounding 
villages  we  all  know  his  name:  1  he  Honorable  Feet  of  Shiv.  He 
gave  me  a  place  to  abide,  and  soon  discovered  that  I  could  read 


60 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 


and  expound  the  scriptures  of  the  Hindus,  so  he  asked  me  to 
remain.  1  he  foundations  of  a  large  new  temple  had  been  laid 
and  there  was  already  some  anxious  thought  as  to  the  securing 
of  a  proper  pujciri,  or  priest,  to  perform  temple  services.  They 
wanted  some  one  learned  and  fitted  to  give  the  temple  a  name 
and  fame.  They  took  me  as  one  sent.  Usually  in  erecting  such 
a  temple  four  or  five  years  are  consumed,  but  so  many  workmen 
were  engaged  that  this  large  temple  was  finished  in  a  year's  time! 
It  was  dedicated  to  Rama,  his  brother  Lakshman  and  wife,  Sita. 
It  cost  ten  thousand  rupees  ($3,330).  In  the  course  of  its  erection 
I  was  often  called  to  see  if  all  was  right  and  properly  arranged. 
"That  is  almost  six  years  ago,  and  save  for  short  pilgrimages,  I 


"My  New  Temple" 


have  remained  here  ever  since.  When  the  new  temple  was  com- 
pleted I  was  asked  to  remain  indefinitely  and  perform  the  wor- 
ship of  the  idols.  I  felt  it  were  better  to  go  from  place  to  place 
in  my  search  for  knowledge,  but  here  I  was  constrained  to  stay. 
and  now  I  believe  I  see  a  part  at  least  of  God's  purpose  in  this. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  61 

He  set  me  down  in  the  midst  of  the  people  of  Mahoba  for  nearly 
six  years.  They  learned  to  know  that  I  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  holy  books  of  the  Hindus.  I  gathered  quite  a  large 
library  here  of  such  books  as  the  Mahdbhdrat,  with  its  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  s/0^5,  costing,  for  a  rather  plain  copy, 
fifty  rupees,  or  sixteen  dollars.  They  are  very  large  books 
you  know.  The  people  knew  I  was  of  a  famous  family, 
famous  even  with  the  gods,  for  Hindus  believe  that  Ram 
Chandra's  earthly  father,  King  Dasarath  himself,  was  of 
this  Kashyap  Muni  tribe.  They  knew  I  understood  all  the 
idolatrous  formulas,  could  read  Sanskrit,  etc.  When  I  left  the 
temple  door  they  knew  an  educated  priest  of  Vishnu  left  it,  and 
not  an  unlearned,  wandering  beggar.  Yes,  God  had  a  purpose 
for  me  as  well  as  Mahoba.  He  meant  that  I  should  cease  wan- 
dering in  search  of  vain  knowledge  and  find  it  just  by  my  door. 
"I  was,  of  course,  right  on  the  road  from  the  Mission  House  to 
the  bazar.  I  saw  Christian  young  men  going  by,  and  there  was 
something  in  their  conduct  that  attracted  me — thei)  were  different 
from  Hindus.  As  I  learned  of  their  straight  walk  I  had  a  long- 
ing to  know  their  Book.  I  believed  that  there  should  be  a  cor- 
respondence between  the  Pusta!?  (Book)  and  the  life  of  its  be- 
lievers, but  I  had  not  found  it  so  among  the  Hindus;  that  is,  they 
lived  up  to  the  worst  in  our  Books  and  not  to  the  best.  There 
was  no  teaching,  in  all  the  philosophy  of  my  favorite  pur  ana, 
which  kept  men  from  sin,  and  I  felt  in  my  inmost  being  that  this 
was  wrong;  something  was  certainly  wrong!  I  kept  on  ringing 
the  great  bell  with  the  image  of  Garud,  the  eagle  servant  of  Vish- 
nu, upon  it,  to  waken  the  gods  of  the  temple;  I  made  the  bed 
each  night  for  the  idols  with  mattress,  sheets  and  pillows;  I 
spread  and  sprinkled  it  with  flowers;  I  placed  each  morning 
sweetmeats  before  the  idols,  at  noon  a  full  dinner  and  in  the  even- 
ing a  supper  (of  which  I  myself  afterwards  partook).  So  my 
days  passed  by.      I  read  and  explained  our  books;  I  went  through 


62  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

the  many,  many  idolatrous  formulae;  every  morning  I  worshipped 
the  Sun  by  Ramkund  here  in  Mahoba.  I  was  a  priest  of  Vish- 
nu, but  I  felt  I  was  doing  not  the  work  of  heaven,  but  of  earth. 
I  had  an  unsatisfied  soul. 

"One  day,  early  in  this  year,  about  seven  months  ago,  I 
decided  to  come  over  to  the  Mission  House  and  ask 
the  Sahib  (Mr.  Gordon)  for  his  holy  book.  I  had  often 
seen  him  and  he  had  always  spoken  politely  to  me  as  he 
passed  the  temple.  I  had  also  often  asked  Miss  Burgess  to  help 
me  out  with  English,  as  I  was  beginning  the  study  of  your  lan- 
guage. I  would  bring  my  book  out  and  ask  her  words  as  she 
was  on  her  way  to  or  from  the  bazar.  I  only  remember  seeing 
you  once,  when  you  were  distributing  sweetmeats  to  the  school- 
girls over  on  the  lake  front.  I  decided  this  day  that  I  would  find 
out  the  root  of  that  of  which  I  caught  glimpses  in  the  Mission 
compound.     /  believed  I  would  find  it  in  their  boofy. 

"So  I  came  over  here  to  Mr.  Gordon's  office  and  asked  him  if 
he  would  let  me  take  some  portion  of  his  sacred  book.  He  replied 
by  putting  in  my  hand  a  Hindi  Gospel  according  to  Matthew,  and 
telling  me  to  read  it,  and  if  there  was  aught  I  did  not  understand  he 
would  be  glad  to  explain  it  to  me.  You  will  scarcely  be  able  to 
realize  how  soon,  how  almost  immediately,  I  longed  to  break 
away  from  the  temple;  it  seemed  like  a  prison  to  me.  /  just 
Wanted  to  read  and  study  mX)  neT»  book.  I  knew  it  would  be 
limited  by  certain  hours.  I  felt  like  deserting  my  temple's  hand- 
some walls,  its  rich  food,  the  adoration  it  brought  to  me,  for  daily 
I,  myself,  was  worshipped!  I  wrapped  my  book  up  carefully  in 
my  drapery  and  turned  reluctantly  back  to  the  temple.  As  soon 
as  I  could,  which  was  about  noon,  I  locked  the  temple  door  and 
sat  down  with  delight  to  my  new  feast — the  Bool(!  I  he  people 
understood  that  the  hours  between  noon  and  four  o'clock  daily 
were  mine  uninterruptedly.  1  did  not  read  it  rapidly.  I  felt  I 
must  understand  this  book.      So  I  read  it  slowly.      I  compared  it 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  63 

with  what  I  saw  in  life;  I  meditated  upon  it;  it  was  full  of  rich- 


" People  said  about  my  becoming  a  Christian:      How  can  he 


W  .  E.  Gord 


on 


know?  Me  has  never  heard  a  hymn;  he  has  never  heard  a  ser- 
mon. No  one  has  explained  the  Gospel  to  him.  I  low  can  he 
know?      But   I,   as   I   sat   all   alone   in   the   shadow  of  our   ancient 


64  RAG  HU  WAR  DAYAL, 

idols,  had  a  Teacher.  1  understood  that  Gospel.  I  compared 
it  with  my  Hindu  books.  I  saw  the  truth  shining  clear  in  Mat- 
thew's Gospel,  clear  like  a  transparent  jewel.  In  our  old  books 
the  truth  was  also,  but  so  blackened  and  soiled,  so  mixed  up  with 
lies,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find.  I,  alone  with  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God  and  His  written  Word,  in  a  heathen  temple,  was  con- 
vinced clearly,  unmistakably,  that  there  is  but  one  incarnation  to 
meet  men's  needs,  Jesus  Christ,  the  Savior  of  the  world;  that 
Jesus  knew  that  I  sat  alone  in  that  temple  of  Vishnu  with  a  hun- 
gry mind  and  a  hungry  soul.  He  had  placed  me  there  alone 
that  I  might  have  a  certain  freedom  to  search  for  Himself.  It 
says  in  our  Ramuyan  something  that  is  like  'Seek  and  ye  shall 
find:' 

'That  man  who  desires  above  all  things,  one  thing, 

And  places  his  heart  upon  that  alone, 
That  thing  he  shall  receive 

And  hold  it  as  his  onm!' 

"I  did  not  seem  to  need  a  human  interpreter;  the  words 
glistened  clear  as  jewels.  I  did  not  go  to  ask  Mr.  Gordon  ques- 
tions, but  when  I  had  carefully  read  the  whole  book  I  went  to 
ask  him  for  another  book,  and  he  gave  me  the  Gospel  according 
to  John.  After  Jesus,  I  was  most  interested  in  the  character  and 
work  of  John  the  Baptist;  he  was  a  grand  forerunner,  the  pre- 
parer of  the  way!  I  think  I  could  never,  or  not  for  years,  have 
found  my  way  out  of  the  darkness  into  the  light  if  I  had  not 
been  given  the  directions  in  a  book.  I  could  not  have  had  Chris- 
tians in  the  temple,  and  if  I  had  gone  to  the  Christian's  church, 
or  come  often  to  speak  to  the  Sahib,  the  owner  of  the  temple  and 
the  Hindus  would  have,  in  some  way,  stopped  my  doing  so, 
but  no  one  noticed  the  little  Book.  I  kept  it  wrapped  in  a  cloth 
when  I  was  not  reading  it.  I  had  always  been  of  studious  habits, 
so  easily  tie  Book  was  to  me  both  teacher  and  preacher.      I  must 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  65 

say  that  in  the  beginning,  the  walk  of  Christians  attracted  me  so 
much,  that  when  Mr.  Gordon  asked  me  what  I  had  heard  that 
made  me  wish  to  become  a  Christian,  I  replied:  'It  is  not  what  I 
have  heard,  but  what  I  have  seen.'  The  living  epistle  truly  first 
attracted  me  and  sent  me  to  the  Bool(.  God's  Word  converted  me 
from  a  priest  of  Vishnu  to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ! 

When  I  had  finished  reading  John's  Gospel  I  decided  I  must 
not  tarry;  I  must  go  at  once,  confessing  my  faith  and  become  a 
Christian !  I  studied  for  a  while  and  then  decided  to  go  to  the 
Sahib.  He  said:  'Do  you  know?  Do  you  understand?  You  must 
think  this  over  carefully.'  I  went  back  to  the  temple,  but, 
oh,  I  felt  /  must  get  rid  of  this  burden!  Only  my  body  served 
in  the  temple ;  there  was  no  heart  in  my  service.  My  heart  lay 
on  the  ground!  Then  I  thought  of  a  way  out.  It  was  the  time 
of  a  great  meld  (religious  fair  or  convention)  which  occurs  every 
twelve  years  in  Ujjain.  I  would  go  there  and  get  away  from 
my  temple  prison!  Different  ones  tried  to  persuade  me  to  stay; 
said  the  temple  service  could  not  go  on  without  me,  etc.,  but  when 
I  remained  determined,  the  money  for  traveling  expenses  was 
placed  in  my  hand  and  I  was  escorted  to  the  station.  I  went  to 
Ujjain  in  Central  India,  where  you  went  this  summer." 

Yes,  how  I  recalled  my  day  in  Ujjain,  one  of,  if  not,  the  most 
ancient  of  India's  cities.  I  was  told  of  that  awful  Hindu  conven- 
tion, of  thousands  of  holy  (?)  men  appearing  in  a  procession  of 
absolute  nakedness.  So  gross  is  it  that  this  year  the  leavening  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  Hindus  them- 
selves said:  "  This  will  be  impossible  to  us  in  another  twelve  years!" 
I  hen  Raghuwar  proceeded:  "I  decided  that  when  I  returned 
from  Ujjain  I  would  stop  off  at  Bina.  I  said  nothing  to  anyone,  not 
even  the  Sahib,  but  I  remembered  another  missionary.  You  know 
Doctor  Mama  (Mis.  Gordon)  dedicated  her  new  hospital  here 
in  the  spring,  and  one  of  the  speakers  was  Mr.   Rlsam,  of  Bina. 


66  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

I  liked  what  he  said  so  very  much  that  I  felt  if  I  could  find  that 
Sahib  again  he  could  help  me.  I  had  gone  to  the  opening  of  the 
hospital  that  day  with  my  best  friend,  a  young  man  by  the  name 
of  Bihari  Lai.  He  lives,  you  know,  just  across  the  road  from 
the  temple.  From  the  beginning  we  have  been  close  friends.  To- 
day my  two  little  copies  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
are  in  his  hands  for  safekeeping!  When  I  went  to  Ujjain  I 
gave  them  to  him.  I  pray  they  may  do  their  work  in  his  proud 
Brahmin  home  as  they  did  in  the  temple  of  that  rich  Mahoba 
family! 

"Well,  I  stopped  off  at  Bina  and  went  to  the  Mission 
House.  I  had  told  no  one  my  plans.  I  went  eagerly  to  give  my- 
self to  my  Savior,  when,  behold!  the  Sahib  had  gone  to  the  for- 
eign land !  My  heart  sank,  but  when  I  thought  it  came  to  me 
that  there  must  be  some  one  in  the  Mission  House,  some  one  who 
knew  the  Way!  Then  Miss  Gordon  came,  and  I  liked  her 
gentle,  clear  way  of  speaking  of  her  Best  Friend.  She  knew  my 
need.  She  wrote  to  her  brother,  Sahib  Gordon  of  Mahoba, 
and  he  wrote  that  he  would  come  in  June,  and  if  1 
wished  I  could  wait  in  Bina,  but  if  I  desired  to  re- 
turn to  Mahoba,  to  come  and  he  would  help  me. 
The  Christians  in  Bina  advised  me  to  stay  there,  that  in  Ma- 
hoba I  would  probably  be  bitterly  persecuted,  but  oh,  I  was 
eager !  I  felt  I  could  not  wait.  I  knew  not  what  night  was 
coming,  and  decided  to  return  at  once  to  Mahoba! 

"When  I  got  to  Jhansi  I  selected  the  train  which  gets  in  here  so 
early  in  the  morning  that  it  is  dark  and  long  before  dawn.  In  the 
daytime  people  would  likely  see  me  and  compel  me  to  go  to  the 
temple.  Always,  for  the  whole  twenty-four  hours,  the  rich  owner 
of  the  temple  has  watchmen  at  the  station  to  guard  his  bags  of 
grain  and  cotton.  In  the  daytime  they  would  see  me  and  tell  of 
my  arrival.  I  reached  Mahoba  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  hastened  along  the  moonlit   road   to  the  Mission    House.      I 


aOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  67 

was  as  a  man  who  has  long  lost  his  dearest  treasure,  and  after  the 
many  days  he  suddenly  finds  it,  before  him,  in  his  hands !  What 
joy!  I  was  inside  the  Mission  grounds,  the  long  lost  treasure  was 
in  my  grasp — the  saving  religion!  I  entered  the  gate  with  intense 
eagerness. 

"It  was  a  night  filled  with  moonlight,  and  first  of  all 
I  went  down  to  the  lake,  all  silver  in  the  glow.  I  sat  down  on 
the  stone  steps  of  the  bathing  place.  I  looked  out  upon  the  dark 
leaves  of  the  lotus  and  on  beyond  to  the  shining  stretch  of  moon- 
lighted water.  I  was  travel  stained,  so  I  removed  my  clothes  and 
bathed  in  the  cool  waters.  My  Brahminical  cord  had  been  cut. 
I  had  in  Bina,  with  my  own  hands  removed  that  sacred  sign  of 
the  twice  born.  Then  I  had  my  si^hd  (lock  of  hair  left  long  on 
top  of  head)  cut  off.  The  cord,  the  lock,  the  idolatrous  mark  in 
my  forehead,  the  beads  about  my  neck,  the  four  signs,  were  gone. 
I  was  clean  from  them.  I  hoped  the  Sahib  would  be  asleep  out- 
doors by  his  office.  I  would  creep  up  and  see  and  then  sit  quietly 
near  him  till  the  dawn.  I  was  safe,  /  n>as  safe!  I  certainly  now 
had  freedom  and  could  follow  the  desires  and  prayers  of  my 
heart! 

"How  thankful  I  was  when  I  saw  Mr.  Gordon  and  Khet 
Singh  were  asleep  in  the  moonlight  outdoors!  I  he  dogs  ran 
barking  to  meet  me.  I  put  out  my  land  and  patted  them  and 
they  ceased.  I  tried  to  walk  softly  over  the  gravel,  but  Mr.  Gor- 
don sat  up  in  bed  and  asked,  'Who  is  it?'  I  just  answered,  'It 
is  I,'  and  Khet  Singh  recognized  my  voice.  1  hen  I  sat  down 
on  his  (Khet  Singh's)  bed  and  we  talked  till  daylight.  I  told 
them  my  experiences  and  my  plans.  I  wanted  a  place  to  stay 
indoors  so  the  people  would  not  know  I  was  here  until  I  E>as 
baptized!  I  had  come  all  the  way,  I  had  run  from  the  station 
to  the  Mission,  with  this  burning  desire  in  my  heart,  which  only 
baptism  could  quench !  I  hen  I  felt  the  burden  would  roll  off, 
the  Hindus  would  give  up  hope  of  me.      It  was  baptism   in   the 


68  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

name  of  Jesus  that  I  wanted.  I  thought  of  it  when  I  bathed  in 
the  lake  out  there  in  the  moonlight,  just  beyond  the  garden  we 
see,  that  the  next  time  I  came  down  to  the  bathing  place  it 
would  be  to  baptismal  waters !  Mr.  Gordon  gave  me  a  place 
in  Khet  Singh's  house.  At  noon,  you  remember,  Mr.  Gordon 
called  the  grown  Christians  to  his  dining  room.'' 

Yes,  I  remembered.  We  asked  "the  Pandit,"  as  he  is 
generally  called,  to  come  in.  I  recall  how  my  heart  went  out 
to  the  bright  face  with  a  veil  of  diffidence  over  the  eagerness  re- 
vealed there.  We  did  not  know  him  then  as  we  soon  came  to 
know  him.  It  seemed  almost  unbelievable  that  he  should  have 
"left  all"  so  suddenly;  we  did  not  know  how  he  regarded  that 
"all."  Strange  that  we  should  ever  be  slow  to  believe  in  the 
power  of  the  Gospel?  We  expressed  to  him  our  joy  in  his 
decision,  but  pointed  out  the  path  of  bitter  ostracism  and  almost 
certain  persecution  that  lay  before  him.  He  was  reassured  of 
the  ever  present  Helper,  and  then  when  he  had  expressed  his 
desire  to  be  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  of  His 
superiority  over  all  the  gods,  he  was  allowed  to  go  to  Khet 
Singh's  room  again. 

Then  came  the  school  of  this  young  church  in  Asia. 
Mr.  Gordon  carefully  explained  to  the  adult  members  that 
we  must  all  stand  by  this  convert  from  a  very  stronghold  of 
idolatry.  The  head-man,  whose  great  temple  was  empty  of  its 
priest,  had  not  only  Mahoba  but  all  the  villages  for  miles  about 
largely  in  his  power  on  account  of  his  great  wealth.  Many  other 
head  men  were  in  debt  deeply  to  him,  and,  therefore,  completely 
in  his  power.  The  wheat  market  was  in  the  control  of  this 
bigoted  Brahmin.  It  would  be,  indeed,  strange  if  no  attempts 
were  made  to  get  Raghuwar  back  or  injure  him.  They  might 
also  attempt  to  hurt,  in  some  way,  those  who  had  influenced  him. 
He  recalled  to  them  that  their  new  brother  came  to  them  with 
but  the  clothes  he  was  wearing,  and  the  single  green  silk  drapery 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  69 

which  he  had  worn  away  from  the  temple.  He  had  not  a  pice 
of  money,  and  his  hands  were  all  unused  to  labor.  There  was  a 
bright  intellect,  untrained  in  Christianity,  and  soft  hands  which 
had  never  worked.  Was  the  church  willing  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility of  providing  for  their  new  brother? 

Then  the  Christian  young  men  considered  how  far  and  how 
much  and  by  whom  he  should  be  helped.  Finally  they  decided  he 
should  be  given  a  living  allowance,  two  dollars  a  month,  and  should 
have  time  to  study,  and  they  would  try  to  devise  some  way  by 
which  he  might  earn  something  with  his  hands  till  he 
knew  "more  perfectly."  That  was  Wednesday,  May  12,  1909. 
Then  this  occurred,  as  Raghuwar  relates  it:  "I  was  sit- 
ting in  the  house  I  now  occupy  by  the  side  of  the  road. 
Khet  Singh  had  prepared  my  dinner  and  I  sat  alone  eating  it. 
When  I  had  finished  I  called  to  him  to  please  bring  me  some  water 
to  wash  my  hands,  when  a  familiar  voice  cried,  7s  it  \)ou,  Bdbd  ji? 
Oh,  Babci  ji,  Biibd  ji!'  and  here  came  one  of  Mr.  Gordon's  big 
schoolboys,  whom  you  all  know  and  like,  Baji  Lai!  He  was 
standing  near  and  recognized  my  voice.  He  came  straight  into 
the  house  and  sat  down  beside  me  and  said:  'Are  you  going  to 
become  a  Christian?'  I  said,  'Yes.'  Then  he  began:  'Oh,  don't 
become  a  Christian ;  much  badness  comes  from  being  a  Christian. 
You  will  have  much  trouble.  You  will  wander  about  hungry 
and  despised.  The  Christians  will  be  good  to  you  now,  but  aft- 
erward turn  you  out.  Don't  you  remember  that  Christian  man, 
W —  — ,  who  could  get  no  work  nor  help?'  'That  will  hap- 
pen,' I  said,  'only  if  a  man  is  unworthy.' 

'No  one  gives  us  pain  or  joy, 
1  he  roots  lie  in  ourselves,' 

so  I  repeated  lo  Baji  Lai  from  the  Ramayan.  '  That  may  be  all 
true,'  he  said,  'but  come  now  with  me  to  the  temple;  your  cushion 
waits  you  there,  your  old  place;  here  you  will  only  have  trouble.' 


70  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

"I  said:  'Let  trouble  come;  we  are  not  made  for  joy  alone. 
/  will  do  this  upon  which  I  have  set  mp  mind.'  While  we  were 
talking  it  seemed  like  magic,  for  all  along  by  the  house  where 
I  was  then,  the  very  house  where  I  live  now,  was  a  line  of  men 
from  the  Headman's  house,  himself,  his  nephews  and  relatives. 
He  stood  under  the  fig  tree  there  and  called  'Baba  ji,  Baba  ji, 
come,  hear  what  I  have  to  say!'  I  remained  silent.  They  were 
quiet,  too. 

"Soon  they  began  to  go,  but  one  remained — one  with 
whom  I  had  a  deep  friendship,  the  nephew  of  the  Headman — 
Hira  Lai.  He  came  up  to  the  door  and  said,  'Open,  I  am  alone. 
Let  me  come  in.  I  cannot  prevent  your  doing  as  you  wish ;  only 
let  n:e  come  in  and  talk  with  you ! '  I  believed  him  and  opened 
the  door,  when,  behold,  here  came  the  others  crowding!  They 
had  hidden  along  the  wall !  I  am  so  thankful  for  my  house  by 
the  side  of  the  road,  but  then  I  was  troubled.  Why  was  I  trou- 
bled? I  was  not  afraid,  but  I  wanted  to  sit  in  that  house  alone 
and  think.  A  wonderful  step  was  before  me,  the  climax  of  my 
longings,  my  strivings.  I  had  been  saying  to  myself,  'Freedom! 
Freedom!'— the  temple  of  the  gods  and  the  bondage  of  it  were 
behind!  I  was  free  now  to  follow  the  Savior  of  Men!  Soon 
I  would  keep  my  tryst  with  Him  and  be  baptized. 

"I  wanted  to  meditate  on  it  all,  and  now  they  came  bursting  in 
with  their  words  and  petitions  so  unutterably  far  from  mine!  They 
threw  their  hats  and  turbans  at  my  feet,  a  Hindu  custom  which 
means  'I  am  the  dust  of  your  feet,  I  beg  of  you!'  They  said:  'We 
plead  with  you,  do  not  become  a  Christian.'  I  answered:  'I  make 
no  promises,  I  bind  myself  not,  I  must  first  do  my  duty  Godward.' 
'Oh,'  they  pleaded,  'do  not  make  us  ashamed!'  I  replied:  'One 
is  not  shamed  by  the  deeds  of  another,  but  by  his  own  deeds!' 
They  plead  most  politely:  'Only  come  over  to  the  temple;  let  us 
talk  with  you;  please,  kindly  come!'  So  I  just  arose  quietly  and 
went. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  71 

"When  I  got  to  the  office  there  were  a  hundred  and  fifty 
or  two  hundred  men  assembled  there,  all  the  leading  Hindus  of 
the  town.  They  began  such  conversation  as  this:  'Why  are  you 
doing  this  way,  Baba  ji?  You  are  wise,  so  wise  that  you  teach 
us.  What  is  your  meaning?'  And  the  Headman  came  up  to 
me.  You  know  him,  how  sharp  he  is  in  worldly  matters  and  the 
accumulating  of  wealth.  He  spoke  of  those  things  of  which  he 
knew,  which  were  not  matters  of  the  soul.  'If  you  want  to  get 
married,'  he  said,  'I  will  make  four  marriages  for  you  at  once; 
I  will  give  you  a  horse  to  ride,  a  fine  house  and  villages.  If  you 
do  not  wish  to  be  a  priest,  that  is  all  right.  We  will  set  you  up 
in  fine  shape  in  another  service.'  I  replied:  'I  am  not  hungry  for 
these  things.  I  want  to  know  God's  will  for  me.'  They  were 
puzzled  and  silent.  Then  I  asked  for  a  drink,  and  one  of  the 
Brahmins  went  out  and  scoured  a  lota  or  drinking  cup  and  brought 
it  in.  I  said:  'Brothers,  I  have  just  eaten  with  Christians.  I 
can  never  again  be  allowed  to  touch  a  drinking  cup  of  yours 
unless  you,  as  I,  throw  aside  forever  caste!  Kindly  pour  the 
water  into  my  hand  that  I  may  not  need  to  touch  your  drinking 
cup.'     Sadly  they  did  so." 

"'Were  you  not  pained,  pandit  ji,"  I  asked,  "that  you  found 
the  chasm  of  your  ancient  faith  between  your  once  best  friends 
and  you?"  He  looked  earnestly  at  me  and  replied:  "No,  and  I 
will  tell  you  why.  From  the  moment  I  left  the  temple,  feeling  'n 
my  heart  of  hearts  that  it  was  forever,  I  was  filled  with  an  abund- 
ant joy,  that  remains  with  me  to  this  moment!  Nothing  else  mat- 
tered, nothing  can!" 

"No  man  can  take  it  from  you,"  I  said.  I  wish  you  could 
see  his  face  as  I  do  this  night.  1  here  is  that  intellectual  look  that 
redeems  unhandsome  features ;  just  now  there  is  the  light  of  a 
high  joy.  He  is  satisfied.  I  wish  Miss  Graybiel  could  see  him 
and  be  glad  once  more  that  God  Himself  directed  her  to  Mahoba, 
if  only  that  this  one  longing  soul  might  be  filled! 


72 


RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 


Miss   Mary  Graybiel. 


I  must  get  on  with  his  story,  for  Raghuwar  is  excited  now, 
like  a  soldier  who  relates  the  greatest  battle  of  his  life! 

"When  I  said  to  them  that  I  had  eaten  with  Christians,  their 
faces  fell,  and  when  I  added  that  I  had  partaken  of  flesh  food, 
they  could  but  say:  'Alas!  What  is  to  be  done  now?'  The 
people  about  began  to  say:  'Baba  ji  is  honest;  he  tells  right  out 
what  he  has  done!'  1  hen  for  three  hours  I,  alone,  sat  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  leading  Hindus  of  Mal.oba  and  debated  with 
them  against  the  Shcistras  of  the  Hindus,  which  I  had  studied  for 
years,  and  for  the  Shcisira  of  the  Christians  I  had  known  for 
seven  months,  and  then  only  in  part.  As  I  debated  they  began 
to  murmur:  'Where  did  he  learn  this?      He  must  have  known  this 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  73 

book  for  years!'  They  asked  me  such  questions  as  these:  'What 
riski  (devotee)  have  Christians?  Have  they  Valmiki,  Bharat, 
Dwajya,'  etc.  Many  long  names  of  our  Hindu  devotees  they  re- 
peated. 'Yes,'  I  told  them,  'there  are  Paul  and  Barnabas  and 
Peter,  who  were  ready  to  die  for  truth.'  I  told  them  of  Paul's 
vision.  You  see,  I  read  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  Bina,  which 
was  a  very  good  thing  for  me  then.  They  told  of  unconquerable 
Rama.  They  said:  'What,  did  your  Christ  ever  £///  anybody? 
Rama  killed  thousands  of  enemies!'  'No,'  I  replied,  'but  He 
conquered  Death  itself!  Did  Ram  Chandra  conquer  death?  I 
know  that  Jesus,  on  the  third  day  in  the  tomb,  arose  from  the 
dead!'  They  were  speechless.  Then  they  said:  'Christians  will 
touch  a  Basor.  Do  they  bathe  and  keep  themselves  holy  and 
apart?'  You  know,  a  Basor  is  the  lowest  of  outcasts,  the  scav- 
engers and  keepers  of  fogs.  I  replied  to  them:  'It  is  written  in 
your  book  in  the  Bhagavad  Gita: 

'God,  the  Blameless  One,  is  like  Surya  Narayan  (the  Sun), 
who,  in  the  water  jar  of  the  Brahmin  and  Basor  alike  reflects  his 
image,  touching  both  the  clean  and  the  unclean.' 

"Now,  does  he  become  unclean  because  he  touches  the  Ba- 
sor's  water  jar?  You  become  polluted  under  like  circumstances. 
Is  God  an  outcast  and  impure? 

'We  do  not  see  the  connection,'  they  said.  My  answer  was, 
'God  placed  souls  in  the  Basor  and  the  Brahmin — you  admit 
that.  He  reached  down  and  touched  both  lives;  therefore,  he 
does  not  observe  what  you  do — caste.  According  to  your  own 
reasoning  God  is  unclean!'  Again  they  were  puzzled.  'Does  God 
put  caste  marks  on  men?'  I  asked  when  they  were  silent.  'Is  the 
Brahminical  cord,  the  sacred  lock  of  hair  growing  longer  than 
the  rest  of  the  hair,  does  the  worship  mark  of  clay  in  the  forehead, 
the  string  of  wooden  beads  around  the  neck — do  these  four  signs 
grorv  on  men,  placed  there  by  God?' 

"  I  hree  hours  we  talked,  and  I  learned  in  that  time  that  I  had 


74  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

unfailing  weapons  of  truth  in  mp  hands!  The  Headman's  eldest 
son  and  the  doctor  from  the  Government  Dispensary  took  me  away 
from  the  crowd  to  the  cotton  gin  near  the  temple.  They  said:  'Why 
did  you  tell  that  you  had  eaten  with  Christians,  and,  above  all 
things,  that  you  had  eaten  meat?  We  could  have  gotten  you  out  of 
this  net  for  a  few  rupees  if  you  had  not  confessed  publicly !  Now  it 
will  take  many  rupees,  but  we  will  give  them.  We  will  get  you  back 
into  caste  or  help  you  to  become  a  member  of  the  Arya  Samaj 
(Advanced  Hindu  Association)  ;  we  will  get  you  another  work, 
make  you  a  grand  wedding,  only  don't  go  back  to  the  Chris- 
tians!' They  were  strong  on  the  marriage  question,  feeling,  per- 
haps that  that  was  the  reason  I  had  left  them — to  get  a  wife. 

"I  said:  'All  these  things  are  of  this  world.  I  am  in  search  of 
the  things  of  another  world,  and  /  have  found  them!  As  I  sat  there 
with  them  I  felt  like  a  prisoner.  I  wanted  more  than  anything 
else,  then,  to  get  where  I  could  breathe  the  air,  anything  but 
this  awful  shelter !  But  they  brought  in  a  cot  and  told  me  to  go 
to  sleep  if  I  wished,  so  I  just  lay  down,  asking  God  to  deliver 
me  from  their  hands  and  all  idolatrous  thrall,  and  fell  asleep.  I 
knew  four  men  were  stationed  there  as  watchmen,  that  there  was 
no  chance  of  escape.  I  did  not  fear  any  bodily  injury;  I  only 
felt  I  was  there  with  Hindus  without  having  kept  my  tryst  with 
Jesus!  I  thought,  too,  that  it  was  Khet  Singh's  wedding  day, 
and  I  could  not  see  the  marriage. 

In  the  evening  I  sat  outside  with  relatives  and  de- 
pendants of  the  Headman,  who  were  doing  all  they  could 
to  interest  me,  when  I  saw  Mr.  Gordon  coming  with  a 
bundle.  He  had  brought  me  my  clothes,  and  as  he  handed 
them  to  me  he  said:  'Do  you  wish  to  remain  here?'  How  the 
people  listened  for  my  reply,  for  they  had  been  teaching  me  what 
to  say  if  the  Sahib  came.  Oh,  how  I  wished  to  say  one  word  of 
comfort  to  Mr.  Gordon!  I  could  only  look  at  him  and  say:  'I 
will  not  come  now.'    Khet  Singh  was  with  the  Sahib.     I  made  a 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  75 

sign  to  him  as  though  to  say,  'It  will  be  all  right,'  and  afterward 
Khet  Singh  told  me  he  spoke  the  word  of  comfort  to  the  Sahib 
which  I  had  wished  to  speak!  He  said:  'I  feel  that  the  pandit's 
heart  is  with  us,  he  will  never  go  back.     We  must  persevere.' 

"I  saw  them  turn  away,  but  I  kept  talking  to  them  in  my  heart! 
I  slept  there  with  men  on  all  four  sides.  I  lay  awake  for  a  long 
time  and  longed  for  freedom.  I  hoped  they  would  take  me 
away,  so  I  could  get  out  some  way  and  escape  in  some  unguarded 
moment  of  theirs.  I  prayed,  too.  There  were  two  Moham- 
medan watchmen,  and  they  spoke  good  words  to  me;  they  told 
me  not  to  give  up,  to  keep  hold  of  a  better  truth  than  I  had  ever 
had  before.  God  sent  help  to  me  in  my  prison,  too,  through 
their  words." 

Mr.  Gordon  has  told  me  his  side  of  the  story  also.  He  says 
the  pandit  had  such  a  look  in  his  eyes  when  he  said,  "I  will  not 
come  now,"  that  he  knew  he  was  longing  to  come.  Our  hearts 
did  go  out  to  him,  surrounded  as  he  was  by  Hindus,  and  we  met 
to  pray  as  did  the  church  so  long  ago  for  Paul.  We  spoke  sev- 
eral times  of  our  "Acts  of  the  Apostles."  That  evening,  Thurs- 
day, May  1  3,  I  was  to  leave  for  a  trip  on  Mission  business  to 
Central  India.  The  others  promised  to  send  me  a  telegram  when 
the  baptism  occurred. 

Raghuwar  says  he  lay  awake  much  that  night  and  thought. 
He  tried  to  plan  a  way  to  get  a  message  to  Mr.  Gordon;  he 
looked  forward  into  the  future,  feeling  he  would  in  some  way 
escape  and  be  able  to  keep  his  tryst.  He  says:  "I  did  not  think 
Christians  could  get  near  enough  to  help  me  any,  hut,  oh,  I  did 
want  them  to  know  I  fi>as  true!  The  next  day,  Friday,  May  14, 
I  was  without  any  sign  of  my  new  brothers.  I  spent  a  sad  day, 
a  long,  sad  day.  In  the  evening  I  asked  to  be  allowed  to  look 
into  the  temple,  which  could  be  done  without  leaving  the  house 
where  I  was  confined.  I  must  tell  you  that  I  exercised  still  a  sort 
of  authority  over  the  men.     If  I  looked  at  them  sternly  they  turned 


76  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

away.  As  I  went  to  the  door  I  gave  them  such  a  look  and  told 
them  to  stand  back,  and  there,  near  the  door,  outside  in  the  road, 
between  the  house  and  the  temple,  was  one  of  your  Christian 
teachers,  Bihari  Lai  Boaz !  He  was  quick  to  see  and  started 
when  he  saw  me,  and  then  he  just  carelessly  walked  up  as  near 
as  he  could  get  to  me  and  I  said  quietly  to  him:  'Brother,  they 
take  me  to  Banda  today.  Tell  the  Sahib  not  to  be  troubled.  / 
shall  escape!'  He  assented,  and  that  was  all  I  could  say,  but  it 
gave  me  great  comfort.     I  was  not  leaving  without  a  sign. 

"In  the  night  I  was  taken  in  a  closed  vehicle  to  the  station.  I 
was  told  that  I  was  going  to  Banda  to  be  made  a  member  of  the 
Arya  Samaj,  to  be  then  married,  restpred  to  caste  and  my  temple 
service!  I  was  to  be  a  dummy  in  their  hands!  Well,  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  go  on,  so  I  did.  They  took  me  a  detour 
quite  out  of  the  way,  so  the  people  at  the  Mission  House  would 
not  hear  any  one  going  to  the  station,  but  they  drove  right  by 
Claudius'  house.  He  heard  the  noise  of  the  cart  and  up  he 
jumped!     Ah,  they  could  not  escape  His  messengers! 

"Claudius  ran  over  here,  told  Mr.  Gordon,  and  soon  three 
Christian  young  men  were  on  their  way  to  the  station.  The  mid- 
night favored.  They  ran  swiftly,  Claudius,  Khet  Singh  and  Bhash- 
kar.  I  knew  afterward  they  had  money  and  were  prepared  to  help 
me.  They  wanted  to  take  clubs,  but  Mr.  Gordon  would  not  let  the 
excited  boys  take  any  weapons.  Well,  they  got  their  tickets,  and, 
you  know,  Bhashkar  is  always  ready  for  theatricals.  He  took  off 
his  cap  and  put  on  a  turban  instead,  made  his  drapery  long  hke 
a  pandit,  and  strode  the  whole  length  of  the  train,  and,  behold, 
he  saw  n:e !  Quick  as  a  flash  the  others  were  beckoned  to,  and 
just  as  the  train  was  ready  to  pull  out  all  three  got  into  our  com- 
partment! It  was  too  late  for  the  Hindus  to  get  themselves  and 
me  out  and  off  into  another  compartment !  I  took  my  mat  and 
spread  it  on  the  seat  and  asked  Khet  Singh  and  the  other  two  to 
sit  on   it.      One  of  the  Hindus  afterwards   told   me  that   that   act 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  77 

of  mine  showed  him  where  my  heart  was!  They  sat  down  be- 
side me  and  Khet  Singh  said  politely  to  the  Hindu  companions: 
'Where  are  your  honors  going?'  'To  Banda.'  'Is  the  Pandit 
jf  accompanying  you?'  'Yes.'  'May  we  speak  to  him?'  'Cer- 
tainly,' they  answered.  They  thought  they  were  sitting  so  near 
they  could  hear  all  that  was  said,  and  it  would  not  matter,  and 
one  Hindu  got  himself  between  me  and  Khet  Singh. 

"Then  I  said  in  the  best  English  I  could,  'Speak  English  to 
me.'  They  spoke  anyway,  backwards,  crookedly,  but  we  under- 
stood each  other,  and  the  Hindus  were  in  the  dark !  They  told  me 
the  Sahib  would  help  me  if  I  wanted  to  get  away.  I  said  I  did  and 
I  asked  them  to  what  station  they  had  purchased  a  ticket.  They 
said,  To  Kabrai.'  This  is  two  stations  east  of  Mahoba  on  the 
way  to  Maudha.  I  told  them  to  get  out  there  and  I  would  also. 
You  know  that  the  mail  for  Jhansi  passes  the  train  from  Ma- 
hoba to  Banda  at  Kabrai.  The  Christian  boys  had  thought  of 
that  and  planned  to  take  me  back  to  Mahoba  on  that  train  if 
I  were  willing.  I  said  to  the  Christians  in  English,  'Take  my 
things  off.'  Quick  as  a  flash  they  rolled  my  bedding  up,  and  you 
should  have  seen  the  Hindus!  'Aree!  Where  are  you  going?' 
'What  does  this  mean?'  'You  promised  to  go  with  us,  and  now 
you  are  leaving  us!'  'Hold  on!'  but  we  four  were  clambering 
into  the  other  train. 

"I  don't  know  what  they  thought,  but  they  stayed  help- 
lessly on  the  train  for  Banada,  and  we  went  happily, 
how  happily,  back  to  Mahoba!  I  suppose  the  Hindus  thought 
their  four  people  had  become  three  and  the  Christian  three  had 
become  four,  and  so  they  just  sat  still  and  let  the  train  carry  them 
to  the  place  for  which  they  had  bought  four  tickets !  They  might 
have  been  afraid  of  the  superior  numbers!  It  was  half  past  four 
on  Saturday  morning  when  we  reached  Mahoba.  Mr.  Cordon 
took  me  into  his  arms  and  thanked  God  when  I  reached  him  for 
the  second  time  in   the  dark  of  the  morning.      At   six-thirr ',  two 


78  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

hours  later  that  morning,  all  the  Christians  gathered  at  the  bathing 
place  for  mp  baptism.  At  last  I  could  keep  my  tryst!  That 
morning  I  could  worship  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  I  could  pray 
to  the  Light  of  the  World!      Oh,  how  happy  I  was  that  lovely 


morning 


I" 


Miss  Pope  has  told  me  of  the  perfect  spring  morning,  of  the 
impressiveness  of  it  all,  and  how  quickly  the  Christians  gathered. 
I  missed  a  great  deal,  but  how  happy  I  was  to  get  the  telegram 
from  Miss  Burgess: 

"Baptism  occurred  this  morning  at  six  thirty." 
I  was  in  Indore  about  to  leave  for  Pandita  Ramabai's. 

Raghuwar  says:  "Mr.  Gordon  asked  me  several  questions 
down  there  on  the  steps  at  the  lake.  'Do  you  take  this  step  of 
your  own  free  will?'  'Did  any  one  entice  you  into  this?'  Then 
he  took  my  confession,  and  I  could  say  from  a  full  heart  that  I 
believed  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God,  and 
my  Savior!  The  song  that  floated  across  the  lake  and  echoed 
amongst  the  fabled  hills  and  stones,  that  beat  against  the  walls  of 
the  little  white  temples  by  the  lake  was: 

CHORUS:  My  heart  falls  at  the  feet  of  Jesus! 

Some  wear  the  rosaries  of  prayer, 

Some  in  their  foreheads  place  the  sacred  sign. 

Some  wind  about  them  ropes  of  hair, 
And  some,  the  cord  of  Brahmin  line. 

Some  smear  with  ashes  all  their  limbs, 

Some  are  with  deer  sl(in  ever  found, 
Some  rvear  the  blanket  coarse  and  black, 

Some  Wander  nailed  o'er  the  ground. 

Some  worship  gods  and  goddesses, 

Some  bathe  where  Ganges  river  flows, 
Some  sprinkle  Water  by  the  peepul  tree, 

Some  call  and  feed  the  hungry  crows. 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  79 

Some  wander  in  the  jungles  wild, 

Some  hold  their  arms  as  sticks  stretched  out, 

Some  sit  where  burn  five  smoking  fires, 
I  flee,  I  flee,  from  things  of  doubt! 

"Between  every  stanza  came  the  chorus,  'A/p  heart  falls  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus.'  It  did  fall  there,  and  there  it  remains.  Those 
other  things  are  all  back  in  that  lost  past  of  mine." 

"Yes,  Brother,  all  things  have  become  new,"  I  say. 

"The  Hindus  passing  in  the  road  heard  the  songs,  and  won- 
dered   at    the   crowd    of   Christians    on    the    bank.        Of     course 


Kirat  Sagar  where  Raghuwar  was  baptised 


it  was  soon  known  in  the  town.  We  do  not  know  how  the  news 
spread,  nor  just  how  it  was  received,  but  we  do  know 
God  worked  wonders  and  there  was  no  disturbance.  /  felt  I  Was 
free!  Now  I  could  think  on  my  new  life,  I  could  peacefully 
read  my  New  Book.  I  had  found  at  last  the  true  way  to  knowl- 
edge of  Gods  truth!      It  was  vacation  time  then,  you  know,  and 


80  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

I  went  with  Mr.  Gordon  and  a  number  of  the  young  Christian 
men  to  our  out-station — Jaitpur.  They  did  not  leave  me  alone 
much  in  Mahoba.  Some  one  stayed  near  me.  There  was  more 
freedom  in  Jaitpur." 

Jaitpur  is  our  interesting  station  supported  by  the  Mahoba 
church  on  the  other  side  of  Kulpahar.  It  was  thought  wise  to 
take  Raghuwar  on  this  tour. 

It  seems  to  me  I  have  never  quite  so  perfectly  realized  the 
inadequacy  of  the  written  word  to  express  the  spoken  ones.  I 
have  tried  a  generous  use  of  italics  or  disfiguring  big  capitals,  but 
the  intensity  of  the  narrator,  the  earnest  fact,  the  gestured  en- 
thusiasm, I  have  been  unable  to  portray.  I  have  been  so  desirous 
that  you  across  the  far  seas  shall  see  and  hear  and  understand 
that  I  have  often  clung  more  closely  to  Hindi  forms  of  speech 
than  is  quite  consistent  with  perfect  English.  There  is  no  in- 
direct discourse  in  the  language  of  the  one  whose  narrative  I  am 
trying  to  faithfully  present.  Try  to  fancy  you  are  listening  as 
he  proceeds: 

"After  a  few  days  we  all  came  back  to  Kulpahar,  as  there 
were  some  people  there — Hindus — with  whom  we  wished  to  talk, 
with  one  especially  who  was  deeply  interested  in  Christianity.  I 
was  left  in  Kulpahar  for  the  rest  of  the  day  and  Mr.  Gordon  and 
the  others  came  on  to  Mahoba.  I  was  to  join  them  that  even- 
ing. When  I  came  to  the  Kulpahar  station  I  saw  two  Mahoba 
men,  or  men  who  had  lived  there.  One  was  a  Hindu  police 
darogd,  who  had  often  spoken  to  me  when  I  was  a  priest  of 
Vishnu,  and  the  other  was  a  clerk  in  the  canal  department,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Arya  Samaj,  who  had  also  lived  in  Mahoba.  One  of 
them  recognized  me  and  began  to  talk  with  me,  said  I  was  a  turn- 
coat and  had  gone  to  a  book  and  a  religion  which  was  not  true. 
That  excited  me  and  we  began  to  argue.  The  clerk  talked  much 
of  an  Arya  book — Satya  Prakash  (Light  of  Truth).  He  spoke 
of  its  quotations  from  the  Vedas  and  from  the  Bible.      He  made 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  81 

misquotations;  that  is,  either  the  book  or  he  had  made  a  mistake. 
I  said:  I  am  certain  you  have  made  a  mistake.  'Well,'  he  re- 
plied, 'You  just  come  with  me  to  Banda  and  I  will  show  you 
the  very  passage  in  the  Satya  Prakash.'  ' 

I  must  say  here  that  Raghuwar  has  a  keen  mind,  reveling  in 
debate,  and  at  this  time  every  faculty  of  mind  and  heart  is  awake 
to  the  support  of  his  new  Book.  I  have  met  men  like  him  in  my 
college  days,  delighting  to  meet  others  in  such  a  combat.  One 
thought  possessed  him  just  then,  to  show  this  clerk  he  had  made 
a  mistake,  so  he  said  he  would  go.  Banda  is  on  the  other  side 
of  Mahoba.  I  am  surprised  to  think  he  went  so  willingly  at  this 
time,  and  yet  I  know  how  he  was  aroused  and  how  fearless  he 
has  been  right  through.      He  continues: 

"The  Arya  Society  has  an  orphanage  for  boys  in  Banda,  and 
I  was  taken  there.  A  learned  pandit  was  called,  and  he  and 
the  clerk  began  to  talk  in  English.  I  only  gathered  this  much 
from  the  conversation,  that  the  Headman  had  written  to  them 
about  me.  I  spoke  politely  to  them  and  jestingly  said:  Yes, 
Christians  have  gotten  my  mind  into  a  hubbub,  but  you  will 
straighten  me  out.  I  was  eager  to  get  to  Satya  Prakash !  They 
brought  the  book  and  I  looked  it  over  carefully.  It  quotes  in 
one  place  as  from  the  Bible  this  sentence:  'Not  anyone  that  saith 
unto  me  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  I 
said,  That  is  a  misquotation!' 

I  cannot  but  wonder  here  that  he  knew  this  slight  twist  of 
words,  "anyone"   for  "everyone"  ! 

"In  another  place  it  says  that  the  account  of  a  story  just 
like  that  in  Genesis  about  Abraham  taking  his  son  Isaac  to  sacri- 
fice him  at  God's  command  in  the  mount,  occurs  in  the  Vedas.  I 
answered  at  once,  '  I  he  word  sacrifice  does  not  occur  in  the 
Vedas,  therefore  how  can  it  be?'  I  wish  you  could  have  seen 
their  faces  when  I  showed  it  to  them !        I  hey  knew  I  had  studied 


82  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

the  Vedas.     I  said  about  the  Satya  Prakash,  'This  is  all  a  made- 
up  book!' 

"You  know,  a  former  Damoh  Orphanage  boy  lives  in 
in  Banda.  He  goes  often  to  talk  with  the  people  of  the  Arya  As- 
sociation, and  he  is  allowed  free  entrance,  because  they  hope  to 
get  a  hold  on  him.  I  knew  of  course  he  would  help  me  to  get 
away  if  I  had  trouble,  but  I  could  not  speak  to  him  then.  I  kept 
on  talking  and  arguing  with  them  the  next  day.  When  they  told 
me  if  Christians  came  to  invite  them  in,  but  not  to  go  outdoors  to 
meet  them,  I  resented  this  interference  with  my  liberty  again,  and 
felt  I  must  get  out!  I  thought  I'd  manage  to  get  away  to  some 
jungly  place  and  take  my  bath  and  be  free  for  awhile  again,  but 
Nanhu  came  again,  and  he  did  not  ask  me  to  come  out  to  him, 
but  walked  right  in !  1  here  were  none  of  the  leaders  there,  and 
he  gave  me  the  surprising  information  that  two  Mahoba  young 
men  had  come  with  the  Maulvi  Yakub  Ali,  one  of  our  Maudha 
Christians!  I  said:  'Help  me  with  my  things,  let  us  go  at  onceT 
Do  you  know,  everybody  in  the  Orphanage  was  silent ;  no  one 
said  a  word ;  we  just  walked  out !  What  a  warm  welcome  the 
Mahoba  boys  gave  me,  embracing  me  as  the  Sahib  had  done  in 
the  dark  of  that  morning  I  was  baptized!  The  missionary  in 
Banda  asked  the  Magistrate  to  send  four  men  to  the  station  to 
see  that  I  got  off  without  trouble  at  the  train.  At  the  station  the 
Arya  men  came  up  to  Yakub  Ali,  whom  they  knew,  and  said: 
'You  have  done  a  bad  thing!'  But  we  got  on  the  train  all  right 
and  I  gladly  turned  my  face  towards  Mahoba  again.  You  know, 
I  have  not  been  approached  since.  Yesterday  I  saw  one  of  the 
Headman's  relatives,  and  he  put  his  hands  together  in  our  way 
of  beseeching  and  said:  'Oh,  don't  talk  to  me!  Don't,  I  beg  of 
you,  draw  me  into  the  net  in  rvhich  you  are  entangled /'  Only 
today  I  met  the  Headman's  uncle.  He  said  if  I  would  only  do 
so,  he  would  yet  reinstate  me,  that  we  could  go  off  on  a  long 
pilgrimage,  I,  the  master  and  he,  the  disciple — it  seems  as  if  they 


SOMETIME    PRIEST    OF    VISHNU.  83 

cannot  believe  I  have  left  Hinduism  forever!  They  know  there 
is  a  power,  but  they  do  not  know  it  is  the  power  of  truth  and  not 
of  witchcraft. 

"Oh,  the  Bible  is  such  a  wonderful  mine!  I  long 
to  dig  out  its  treasures  and  take  them  to  my  people.  The  field  I 
see  ever  with  the  eyes  of  my  heart  is  the  unreached  peninsula  of 
Kathiawar,  where  millions  of  Hindus  live  who  seemed  to  me  in 
ignorance  of  Hinduism,  and  people  with  somewhat  open  minds. 
They  eagerly  listened  to  me  when  I  read  to  them  the  purdnas  on 
my  return  from  Dwarka.  I  enjoyed  teaching  them,  and  I  feel  I 
must  go  back  there  and  travel  from  village  to  village,  expounding 
the  Book  that  is  true.  /  long  to  go,  not  tarrying  long  in  a  place, 
but  evangelize  Kathiawar  first ;  and  when  I  have  found  a  good 
center,  to  ask  our  Mahoba  church  to  send  some  one  to  abide  in 
that  place,  where  I  hope  I  shall  have  gathered  together,  as  Paul 
did,  a  congregation  of  believers,  and  from  such  centers  evange- 
lists can  go  out.  I  want  to  be  free  to  go,  not  bound  at  once  by 
any  ties,  except  to  live  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  my  people.  I 
seem  to  see  my  field  stretched  out  before  me,  full  of  villages  in 
ignorance  of  religion,  in  the  dark.  I  want  to  learn  to  use  God's 
Word  and  then  for  freedom  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  'regions  be- 
yond'!     Paul  is  my  example  of  the  'sent  one.' 

I  have  inquired  about  Kathiawar  since  Raghuwar  told  me 
this,  his  longing,  as  he  thought  there  are  no  missionaries  amongst 
the  three  million  people  on  this  peninsula.  The  Methodist  Mis- 
sion is  working  in  Baroda  and  they  have  put  a  dozen  Christian 
preachers  in  the  heart  of  Kathiawar,  but  the  Superintendent  in  the 
Baroda  district.  Rev.  L.  E.  Linzell,  says,  "the  problem  is  a  vast 
one  for  so  few  workers."  He  also  adds  this  information: 
"Dwarka  is  situated  on  a  small  peninsula  which  looks  like  an 
island.  It  is  a  beautiful  place,  and  multitudes  go  there  on  pil- 
grimage. The  problem  of  the  evangelization  of  Kathiawar  is  in- 
deed a  vast  one  for  a  few  workers." 


SOMETIME    PRIEST   OF    VISHNU.  85 

Shall  we  not  all  pray  that  God  may  guide  in  an  especial  man- 
ner this  sometime  priest  of  Vishnu,  that  we  in  no  way  hinder  him 
if  God  sends  him  to  "regions  beyond,"  as  he  did  Paul  so  long 
ago;  that  he  indeed  have  freedom  to  go  where  he  wills  according 
to  God's  will,  and  that  in  no  way  we  dampen  the  ardor  of  this 
disciple  of  Jesus  if  he  feels  thrust  forth  in  untrodden  ways  of 
our  missions.  An  oft  repeated  prayer  of  ours  seems  answered  in 
Raghuwar,  for  his  heart  is  on  fire  with  the  missionary  spirit,  a 
Pauline  spirit,  we  believe,  "not  to  glory  in  another's  province  in 
regard  to  things  ready  to  our  hand,"  but  eager,  when  his  weapons 
are  ready,  to  go  to  unreached  provinces  and  fight  for  the  over- 
throw of  Satan.  He  has  a  military  spirit  and  constantly  to  my 
surprise  uses  military  figures,  often  referring  to  "under  the  ban- 
ner of  Jesus,"  "the  battle  is  before  us,"  etc. 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  leave  this  story  here,  for  it  is  only 
begun.  A  year  ago  Raghuwar  was  a  priest  in  a  heathen  temple, 
thirsting  for  knowledge  and  unsatisfied.  Now  he  is  full  of  joy 
in  his  "house  by  the  side  of  the  road,"  where  his  loved  friend 
Bihari  Lai  already  comes  to  read  with  him  and  has  even  joined 
Mr.  Gordon's  class  in  the  English  Bible.  His  eyes  shine  when 
he  talks  of  Bihari  Lai.  Not  long  ago  a  wandering  "holy  man" 
came  to  argue  with  him,  when  Raghuwar  proved,  at  least  to  his 
own  satisfaction,  that  this  man  did  not  know  the  Hindu  sacred 
books;  he  showed  him  the  way  and  the  fallacies  of  Hinduism;  he 
expected  him  to  accept  the  gospel  at  once,  and  he  did  get  far 
enough  to  wash  idolatrous  marks  off  his  face  and  comb  his  hair, 
yes,  and  he  ate  with  him,  but  out  in  the  town  he  was  lured  off, 
greatly  to  Raghuwar's  disappointment.  He  fell  as  if  he  must 
do  battle!  He  still  prays  for  him  and  bore  the  test  of  this  dis- 
appointment well. 

I  asked  him  at  last  for  the  parting  message  to  our  American 
brothers  and  sisters.      Raghuwar  stood  up,  as  he  has  so  often  done 


86  RAGHUWAR  DAYAL, 

during  this  narrative,   and  this  is  the  message  he  wishes  me  to 
deliver  to  you  as  nearly  as  I  can  put  it  in  his  own  words: 

"It  matters  not  how  far  I  shall  be  cast  arvay,  how  much  suf- 
fering, how  much  trial — I  want  to  win  my  brothers  to  Christ. 
You  have  reached  out  a  hand  and  placed  it  on  India.  I  be- 
seech you  not  to  take  it  up  until  she  be  saved!  There  is  many 
an  empty  place,  empty  of  hearing  the  Word.  Oh,  send  here 
more  sowers ;  let  us  go  forth  together  to  see  if  this  place  or  that 
be  fruitful  or  not.  Until  we  have  examined  the  great  fields  how 
can  we  know  if  the  land  be  good  or  not?  True,  we  shall  find 
many  patches  and  wide  fields  full  of  stones  and  thorns;  we  must 
remove  the  former  and  uproot  the  latter. 

'Yadi  mahinat  \are,  parishram  t{hdli  na  jaegi,'  i.  e.  if  we 
work,  our  labor  is  not  empty  (vain).  In  some  we  may  need 
harvesters  of  ripened  grain,  but,  oh,  fields  unknowing  good  seed 
lie  all  about  us;  the  solvers  must  go  forth  to  sotv!  We  must 
never  give  up !  As  an  ant  clings  to  the  foot  of  a  man,  never 
losing  his  hold  until  the  body  be  torn  from  the  head,  so  we  must 
keep  hold! 

"THIS  IS  A  FIGHT!  How  many  centuries  has  India  lain 
passive  in  Satan's  hand !  We  have  begun  the  battle,  let  no  one  be 
piplayan  (a  deserter).  He  has  clearly  commanded  us;  let  us 
not  be  disobedient.  What  matter  if  the  way  be  hard  and  rough? 
If  God  says  'Go,'  how  dare  we  crouch  in  our  houses,  hiding? 
How  dare  we  question,  'How  can  I  go  to  this  country  or  that?' 
when  He  has  plainly  said:  'Co  vc  into  all  the  rvorld'  ?  We  are, 
in  such  cases,  disobedient  cowards!  How  can  any  Christian  de- 
cide to  just  sit  in  his  house  and  eat?  My  favorite  song  of  the 
Christian  songs  I  have  heard  is: 

Omvard  Christian  soldiers, 
Marching  as  to  ivar! 

That   hymn   makes   my   heart   strong!       It   makes   me  want   to   go 


SOMETIME    PRIEST   OF    VISHNU.  87 

anywhere,  ANYWHERE  the  sheltering  shadow  of  the  Cross  has 
never  fallen.  The  work  needs  to  be  done  quickly,  NOW.  Ra- 
wan,  the  Demon,  once  said:  'I  shall  make  the  bitter  waters  of 
the  oceans  sweet,'  but  what  happened?  As  he  tarried  Ram 
Chandra  came.  Rawan  had  Indra  on  his  side.  He  could  have 
accomplished  this  blessing  for  his  followers,  sweet  water  for  salt, 
but,  delaying,  he  died!  We  may  have  to  leave  some  earth  work 
undone,  but  first  we  must  do  the  heaven  work!  India  lies  under 
a  blanket  of  sin,  a  blanket  which  day  by  day  grows  heavier  with 
waters  of  death.  Our  poor,  poor  country,  rue  must  take  this  wet 
blanket  off!  It  is  smothering  our  land!  I  want  to  go  any  place 
where  Jesus  goes  before.  First,  I  must  prepare  as  patiently  as  in 
me  lies — patiently  as  I  can,  not  knowing  how  long  my  life  here 
will  be,  and  knowing  my  brothers  pass  out  into  the  night.  When 
I  get  impatient  I  think:  Wait,  Wait,  all  will  come  at  last!  God 
must  get  his  soldiers  ready,  even  as  our  king  does,  strong,  well- 
fed,  hearty  men.  It  is  as  though  a  campaign  in  a  hostile  coun- 
try were  being  prepared,  for  the  battle  is  sore  and  heavy  ahead ! 
The  Hindu  shastras  say:  'When  the  battle  begins,  the  door  of 
heaven  opens!'  Let  us  not  be  afraid,  let  us  only  be  ready.  VIC- 
TORY CERTAINLY  WILL  BE.  The  message  of  Raghuwar,  a  dis- 
ciple of  Jesus,  to  His  disciples  in  America." 

Related  to  ADELAIDE  Gail  Frost  in  Mahoha,  India,  1909. 


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